977.3 


Alvord. 

Illinois  in  the 

eighteenth  century. 


LI  B  R.AR.Y 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 
Of    ILLINOIS 


IIUN01S  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


BULLETIN 


Illinois  State 

Historical  Library 


Volume  1.          Number  1. 


ILLINOIS  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

A  Report  on  the  Documents  in  Belleville,  Illinois,  Illustrating 
the  Early  History  of  the  State 


CLARENCE  WALWORTH  ALVORD, 
University  of  Illinois. 


SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS 


SPRINGFIELD: 
ILLINOIS  STATE  JOURNAL  Co.,  STATE  PRINTERS. 

1905. 


BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES 


ILLINOIS  STATE  HISTORICAL  LIBRARY. 


EDMUND  J.  JAMES,  President. 

M.  H.  CHAMBERLIN,    Vice  President. 

GEORGE  N.  BLACK,  Secretary. 


MRS.  JESSIE  PALMER  WEBER,  Librarian 


ILLINOIS  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY: 


A  REPORT  ON  THE 


Documents  in  Belleville,  111., 

Illustrating  the  early  history  of  the  State. 

BY 

CLARENCE  WALWORTH  ALVORD, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS. 


TO  THE  TRUSTEES 

OF  THE 

ILLINOIS  STATE  HISTORICAL  LIBRARY. 


ILLINOIS    IN    THE    EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY:    A    REPORT    ON    THE    DOCU- 
MENTS IN  BELLEVILLE  ILLUSTRATING  THE  EARLY 
HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE. 


When  the  county  of 'Randolph  was  separated  from  that  of  St.  Clair 
in  1795,  the  records  of  the  former  governments  passed  into  the  care 
of  different  jurisdictions  and  have  suffered  diverse  fates.  Those  of 
legal  interest  to  the  new  southern  county,  constituting  the  largest 
part  of  the  official  papers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  remained  for  a 
time  at  Kaskaskia;  and  then  were  removed  to  Chester,  where  they 
were  neglected  by  the  county  officials  and  many  thoughtlessly  de- 
stroyed, so  that  few  documents  of  this  period  have  reached  a  more 
historically  interested  generation.1  Other  records  were  left  in  the 
court  house  at  Cahokia,  where  they  remained  until  the  year  1814, 
when  they  were  deposited  in  the  court  house  at  the  new  county  seat, 
Belleville.2  The  fate  of  the  Cahokia  documents  has  been  more  for- 
tunate than  that  which  befell  the  more  important  records  at  Kaskas- 
kia ;  for  probably  the  majority  of  the  papers  have  been  preserved,  as 
there  are  in  existence  records  dating  from  every  period  of  the  history 
of  Illinois  during  the  eighteenth  century,  with  the  exception  of  that 
of  the  English  occupation,  1765  to  1778.  At  the  end  of  this  report 
will  be  found  a  catalog  of  these  early  documents  in  the  various  offices 
of  the  court  house  at  Belleville. 

It  seems  best  to  preface  this  catalog  with  a  brief  history  of  the 
institutions  and  the  laws  under  which  these  documents  originated, 
and  also  to  give  some  account  of  the  men  who  have  written  them. 
The  proposed  limits  of  the  report  will  not  include  a  study  of  political 
events  or  an  analysis  of  the  documents  themselves  in  order  to  dis- 
cover their  evidence  on  the  political,  legal,  and  social  conditions  of  the 
times.  For  this  reason  the  documents  have  been  little  used,  except 
in  two  cases.  Such  a  study  must  be  made,  but  it  will  be  several 
months  before  it  can  be  completed,  and  the  desirability  of  an  early 
report  to  the  trustees  of  the  Historical  Library  has  determined  the 
limits  of  this  preliminary  study. 

1.  Mason,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  49;   Perrin,  "The  oldest  Civil  Record  in  the 
West",  in   Transactions  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Soc.,  1901,  p.  64. 

2.  History  of  St.  Clair  County,  183. 


A  DOCUMENT  OF  THE  FRENCH  REGIME. 

There  is  only  one  document  belonging  to  the  French  period;  it  is  a 
Record  of  the  Registrations  of  Donations,  kept  by  two  successive 
clerks  of  the  court  in  the  district  of  the  Illinois  during  the  years  L737 
to  1769  inclusive.1 

In  1717,  the  territory  of  the  Illinois  was  placed  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  province  of  Louisiana  and  on  Sept.  20, 1721,  the  Western 
Company  divided  the  province  into  nire  districts,  one  of  which  was  that 
of  the  Illinois.2  This  extended  east  and  west  of  the  Mississippi  be- 
tween the  lines  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Illinois  rivers.  The  district  was 
subordinated  to  the  provincial  government,  and  appeal  from  the  de- 
cision of  the  local  court  might  be  made  to  the  superior  council  sitting 
at  New  Orleans.3  The  civil  government  of  the  district  consisted  of  a 
commandant,  a  commissaire,  a  judge,  a  principal  scrivener  of  the  ma- 
rine, a  king's  attorney,  a  keeper  of  the  royal  warehouse,  a  sealer  of 
weights  and  measures,  a  clerk  of  the  court,  huissiers,  deputy  clerks, 
and  notaries.  Generally  several  offices  were  combined.  For  instance, 
in  this  district  the  duties  of  the  commissaire,  the  judge,  and  the 
scrivener  were  always  performed  by  one  man;  as  were  also  the  duties 
of  attorney  and  keeper  of  the  warehouse;  and  a  notary  was  clerk  of 
the  court.4  All  civil  officers  were  directly  responsible  to  the  intend- 
ant.5  The  commandant,  whose  military  duties  were  the  more  impor- 
tant, was  under  the  orders  of  the  governor.  Besides  these  officers  of 
the  district,  the  commandant  of  each  village  may  have  had  some  civil 
duties.6 

There  is  a  need  of  a  much  more  careful  study  of  all  the  sources 
than  has  yet  been  made,  before  the  rather  complicated  machinery  of 
the  French  colonial  government  in  the  Mississippi  valley  can  be  un- 
derstood. The  limitations  of  this  paper,  however,  require  only  an 
explanation  of  the  duties  of  the  clerk  of  the  court,  when  he  registered 
certain  kinds  of  donations.  To  understand  these  it  will  be  necessary 
to  study  the  legislation  of  Louis  XIV  and  his  successor  upon  the  sub- 
ject, since  this  was  the  law  practiced  in  the  French  settlements  on  the 
Mississippi. 

Since  the  Middle  Ages  the  French  law  has  divided  private  legal 
acts  into  two  broad  classes.  In  the  first  are  included  all  agreements, 
acts,  and  deeds,  which  individuals  make  voluntarily,  such  as  contracts, 
wills,  donations,  etc.  These,  therefore,  are  called  acts  of  voluntary 
jurisdiction.  In  the  second  are  placed  all  those  acts  which  require 
the  intervention  of  a  court.  The  former  class  is  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  notaries,  whose  engrossed  copies  have  complete  validity 


1.  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations  aux  Siege  des  Illinois,   see  Catalog,  No.  1;  Perrin, 
'  'Oldest  Civil  Record  in  the  West", in  Transactions  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Soc.,  1901,  p.  64etseq. 

2.  French  Hist.  Collections  of  La.,    Ill,  49-59,  101-104;  Collet,  in  Mag.  of  Western  Hist.,  VIII. 
268;  Winsor,    Narrative  and  Critical  Hist.,  V.,  43. 

3.  Pittman,  Present  State  of  the  European  Settlements, \1\Yrenc\\,  Hist.  Collections  of  Lit.,  Ill, 
101-104;  Winsor.  Narrati-ce  and  Critical  Hist.,  V..  43. 

4.  French.  Hist.  Collections,   III,  49-59,  101-104;  Pittman,  Present  State  of  the  European  Set- 
tlements, 53;  Edits,  Ordonnances  Royaux,  etc..  I.,  581,    art.  14,    Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Dona- 

5.  The  title  of  this  officer  varied ;but  generally  he  signed  himself,  King's  Councillor.  Com- 
missaire General  of  the  Marine,  and  Intendant.    Gayarre  History  of  Louisiana,  II,  appendix. 

6.  Breese,  Early  History  of  Illinois,  216. 


y 

without  the  need  of  an  approval  by  a  civil  judge.1  Provided  all  for- 
malities are  complied  with,  the  notarial  act  is  as  effective  as  a  judg- 
ment of  the  American  court.2  During  the  eighteenth  century,  others 
besides  the  notaries  might  draw  up  wills  under  certain  conditions. 
This  privilege  was  accorded  the  testator,  the  installed  parish  priest, 
and  military  officers;  but  whoever  may  have  written  them,  all  acts  of 
this  character  were  brought  finally  to  the  notaries,  who  were  obliged 
by  law  to  make  and  keep  minutes  of  them.3 

In  order  that  they  might  exercise  a  needed  control  over  the  notarial 
acts  and  to  prevent  their  loss  the  French  kings,  beginning  with 
Francis  I,  (1539),  promulgated  laws  which  made  compulsory  the 
registration  of  certain  classes  of  acts,  among  which  were  donations 
and  wills.4  Edict  followed  edict  until  the  law  of  deeds,  wills,  and 
donations  became  so  complex  that  a  revision  was  necessary.  Louis 
XIV.  in  his  old  age  undertook  the  task,  which  was  completed  by  his 
successor.  During  the  first  third  of  the  eighteenth  century  these  two 
kings  issued  a  series  of  general  laws, 'which  regulated  the  writing, 
preservation,  and  registration  of  all  acts  drawn  up  by  notaries. 

The  first  of  this  series  of  ordinances  was  that  of  December,  1703, 
which  systematized  the  law  of  registration  and  established  a  bureau 
for  that  purpose  at  each  of  the  royal  courts.5  The  clerk,  who  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  registration,  acted  as  a  recorder  rather  than 
as  the  agent  of  the  court  to  which  he  was  attached.  The  number  of 
acts  required  to  be  registered  was  greatly  increased ;  but  it  is  sufficient 
for  our  purposes  to  note  that  donations  and  wills  were  still  included. 
Several  explanations  of  this  edict  followed;  but  the  two  ordinances 
issued  in  February  of  1731  are  of  special  interest,  for  they  governed 
the  clerk's  action  in  keeping  this  record  of  registration  in  the  Illinois. 
The  first  of  these  has  not  been  printed;  the  second  was  a  codification 
of  the  previous  law  of  donations  inter  vivos  and  abrogated  all  former 
edicts,  laws,  and  coutumes  on  the  subject.  Hereafter  there  were  to  be 
only  two  forms  for  the  gratuitous  disposal  of  property,  namely, 
donations  inter  vivos  and  testaments  or  codicils.6 

The  donation  inter  vivos,  before  it  became  effective,  must  be 
accepted  by  the  donee  in  person,  or  through  attorney,  or  by  notarial 
act.  All  such  donations,  with  the  single  exception  of  those  made  by 
contract  of  marriage,  were  limited  to  property  actually  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  donor.  There  was  another  exception  made  for  the  same 


1.  Larousse,  Grande  Diet.  Universel,  art.  Notaire. 

2.  Koy,  Histoire  du  Notarial  au  Canada,  I,    262;  Brooke,   Treatise  on  the  Practice  of  a  Notary 
of  England,  8. 

3.  Coutume  de  Paris,  art.  248;  Isambert,  etc.,  Recrteil  general,  XXI,    p.  292,  arts.  25-37,   pp. 
386-402;  Edits,   Ordonnances  Royaux,  etc.,  II,   296  (interprets  the  law  in  the  colonies),  I. ,372: 
Viollet,  Histoire  du  Droit,  Civil  Francais,  3d  ed.,  952-965.      Great  privileges  were  granted  to 
soldiers  engaged  in  war.    Wills  drawn  up  by  priests  in  the  Mississippi  settlements  received 
the  vise  of  the  commandant. 

4.  Larousse,    Grande   Diet.     Universe!,    art.    Insinuation;    La    Grande    Encyclopedic,     art. 
Insinuation;  Viollet,  Histoire  du  Droit  Civil  Francais,  965-971. 

5.  Isambert,  etc..  Recueil  general,  XX,  438-441;  La  Grande  Encyclopedic,  art.  Insinuation, 
As  early  as  1690,  Louis  XIV   had  issued  a  declaration  on  the  subject  of  donations.    Isambert, 
etc.,  Recueil  general,  XX.  113. 

6.  Isambert.    etc.,    Recueil  general,    XXI,     343-354.     The  first  ordinance  regulated  the 
method  of  registration,  the  fees  of  the  clerk,  etc.,  as  may  be  learned  from  the  Illinois  register, 
in  which  reference  to  the  law  of  February  17,  1731,  was  frequently  made.      The  second  was  an 
ordinance  concerning  donations,  a  partial    translation  of  which    is  printed  in  Appendix  II. 
The    present  French  law    has    made  few  changes,    if   any,    in  this  ordinance.    (Compare 
Code  Civil  Fran (ais,  Bk.,  Ill,  Tit.  2K    On  June  25,  1735,  an  ordinance  concerning  testaments 
was  issued.    Isambert,  etc.,  Recueil  general,  XXI,  386-402. 


10 

contracts:  donations  to  direct  heirs  contained  in  them  needed  no- 
registration.  This  was  also  true  of  donations  of  movables,  when 
there  was  actual  delivery,  and  of  small  sums  of  money.  All  others 
must  be  registered  on  penalty  of  nullity  at  the  nearest  royal  court, 
from  which  there  was  direct  appeal  to  the  king. 

For  this  purpose  there  was  kept  at  each  royal  court  a  particular 
register,  which  was  numbered  and  paraphed  on  every  page  by  the 
first  officer  of  the  court.1  No  vacant  space  between  the  deeds  was  left 
for  fear  of  unauthorized  interpolations.  At  the  end  of  each  year  this 
register  was  inspected  by  the  same  officer  and,  if  found  in  accordance 
with  the  law,  the  judge  approved  it,  closed  the  register  with  his  sig- 
nature, and  gave  it  into  the  keeping  of  the  clerk.  In  this  register 
there  was  copied  the  entire  donation,  if  it  were  made  by  a  separate 
act;  or  that  part  of  any  act,  which  contained  the  donation,  so  that 
reference  to  the  notary's  minute  to  learn  the  terms  of  the  gift  would 
not  be  necessary.  Upon  demand  the  clerk  was  obliged  to  give  access 
to  the  book;  and,  if  requested,  to  make  a  copy  of  the  deed  for  a  fixed 
fee. 

In  the  register  containing  the  registration  of  these  donations  inter 
vivos,  the  clerk  in  the  district  of  the  Illinois  has  also  kept  a  record  of 
testaments  and  codicils.  That  these  must  be  registered  has  been  al- 
ready stated;  but  I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  law  permitting  or 
ordering  the  registration  of  wills  in  the  particular  record  reserved  by 
the  Ordinance  of  1731  for  donations  infer  vivos.2  Since  wills,  how- 
ever are  only  a  particular  kind  of  donation,  it  is  probable  that  the 
clerk  was  following  a  universal  custom. 

Such  was  the  French  law  regulating  the  registration  of  donations 
and  of  wills  or  codicils,  and  the  clerk  in  the  district  of  the  Illinois 
observed  this  law  with  as  much  care  as  if  he  were  attached  to  the 
court  of  the  provost  of  Paris,  at  least  during  the  earlier  years.  The 
leaves  of  the  book  were  all  numbered  and  paraphed  by  the  judge  of 
the  district;  the  formulae  of  the  registration  were  carefully  observed; 
the  deeds  were  written  so  that  the  pages  were  filled,  even  crowded. 
In  one  instance  the  clerk — it  was  the  later  one  who  was  less  care- 
ful— missed  an  eighth  of  a  page  and  across  this  space  he  has  drawn  a 
line  and  written,  "passed  by  mistake."  The  acts  registered  may  be 
thus  classified:  1.  Simple  acts  of  mutual  donation  of  real  and  personal 
property,  both  present  and  to  be  acquired,  made  by  contract  of  mar- 
riage, so  that  in  case  of  the  death  of  one,  the  survivor  would  have  all 
the  property  possessed  by  both.  These  donations  were  to  be  null 
and  void  in  case  of  the  birth  of  a  child.  2.  Acts  of  donation  by  one 
party  to  the  other  in  the  contract  of  marriage.  8.  Acts  of  donation 
by  a  third  party  to  one  or  both  of  the  contracting  parties  in  a  con- 
tract of  marriage.  4.  Acts  of  mutual  donation  mortis  causa?  5. 
Simple  acts  of  donation  by  one  party  to  another.  6.  Acts  of  donation 


1.  Isambert,  etc.,    Rec-ueil  general,  XXI,    345-349.    A   paraph  was  a  flourish  of  the  pen 
under  the  signature,  the  number  of  the  page,  or  words  inserted  on  the  margin.    It  was  used 
to  prevent  falsification. 

2.  Ibid.,   XX.,  438-441,    XXI,    401,    art.  79;   Larouse    Grande  Dicf  Univ.,  art.  Enregistments 
La  Grande  Encyc.,  art..   Insinuation. 

3.  These  were  forbidden,  but    may    have    been    permitted   to   soldiers.     Isambert,    etc., 
Recueil general,  XXI,    393,  art.,  27. 


11 

in  return  for  which  the  donee  promised  some  compensation.  These 
were  generally  made  by  aged  persons  in  return  for  the  promise  of 
support.  7.  Solemn  wills  and  testaments.  8.  Codicils.  9.  Formal 
renunciation  of  the  "community  of  property"  by  the  wife.1  The  prop- 
erty, which  is  thus  disposed  of,  included  real  estate,  mortgages,  notes 
of  all  kinds,  state  bonds,  money,  household  and  personal  property, 
and  slaves. 

In  the  largest  number  of  cases  these  acts  were  drawn  up  by  a  no- 
tary, generally  by  the  notary  who,  as  clerk  of  the  court,  registered 
them  and  received  three  livres  for  so  doing.  There  are,  however,  a 
number  of  contracts  of  marriage  and  of  wills,  which  were  written  by 
priests,  or  by  the  military  commandant  of  one  of  the  settlements,  or 
by  an  officer  in  the  army,  and  some  wills  written  by  the  testator. 

Usually  the  party  interested  in  the  deed  brought  it  to  the  bureau 
of  the  court  to  have  it  registered,  in  which  case  the  following  formula 
was  used  by  the  clerk:  "Today,  the  seventh  day  of  April,  1752, 
there  has  appeared  at  the  bureau  of  this  jurisdiction  before  the  clerk 
whose  signature  is  below,  Mr.  Jean  Baptiste  Gouier  called  Cham- 
pagne, inhabitant  of  St.  Philippe,  dwelling  in  the  parish  of  Ste.  Anne, 
with  a  .copy  of  his  contract  of  marriage  with  Miss  Marie  Joseph 
Lacroix,  passed  before  the  late  Mr.  Jerome  Rousillet,  notary,  on  the 
date,  February  14,  17ob."  Sometimes  the  clerk  was  commissioned  to 
make  the  registration,  in  which  case  he  wrote  after  dating:  "We, 
Bertlor  Barrios,  clerk  at  the  Illinois,  by  virtue  of  the  commission  of 
Francois  Lacroix  to  register,  etc."  The  invariable  formula  at  the 
close  is  this:  "And  after  having  read  the  said  contract  of  marriage 
in  our  bureau,  we  have  inscribed  the  said  donation  on  the  Record  of 
the  Registrations  of  this  court  in  accordance  with  the  ordinance  for 
their  preservation  and  validation,  by  reason '  of  which,  etc.  Done  in 
our  bureau  the  day  and  year  above  written."  Then  followed  the  sig- 
nature of  the  clerk  with  a  paraph. 

The  time  intervening  between  the  redaction  of  an  act  and  its  regis- 
tration varied  considerably.  Generally  only  a  few  days  were  allowed 
to  pass  before  the  parties  appeared  in  the  court  to  fulfill  the  require- 
ments of  the  law.  As  a  rule  the  bridegroom  brought  the  contract  of 
marriage,  but  not  always;  and  in  the  case  of  wills  the  executor,  after 
the  death  of  the  testator.  At  times,  years  elapsed  before  this  final 
act  of  registration,  as  in  the  case  of  a  contract  of  marriage  dated 
February  17,  1726,  and  registered  August  2,  1741.  In  this  case  the 
donation  was  made  before  the  promulgation  of  the  Ordinance  of  1731, 
but  it  will  be  remembered  that  this  ordinance  did  not  change  the 
existing  law  on  the  registration  of  donations.  There  were  cases 
when  a  doubt  arose  whether  an  act  had  been  registered  and  the  party 
interested  requested  the  clerk  to  search  the  record  and,  if  necessary, 
to  fulfill  the  requirements  of  the  law.  Thus,  on  October  25,  1741, 
Francois  Lacroix  requested  the  clerk  to  look  up  his  contract  of 


1.  Viollet,  Histoire  du  Droit,  Civil Francais ,  3d  ed.,  826-848. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of  ILUNOlb 


/ 


marriage,  which  had  been  drawn  up  November  8, 1739,  by  M.  Jerome, 
deceased.  Since  it  had  not  been  registered,  the  clerk  recorded  the  fact 
and  corrected  the  omission. 

The  first  entry  in  the  book  was  made  on  January  15,  1737,  by  Jean 
Baptiste  Bertlor  Barrois.1  This  was  not  the  only  book  under  his 
charge;  for  the  French  law  required  the  memoranda  of  all  acts  of  the 
court  to  be  carefully  and  systematically  kept.  As  royal  notary,  he 
was  obliged  to  make  and  preserve  his  minutes  and  copy  his  engross- 
ments;2 as  clerk  of  the  court,  he  had  four  distinct  registers;3  as  clerk 
of  the  marine,  he  was  obliged  to  keep  records  in  seven  registers  ;4  and 
as  clerk  of  registration,  he  must  have  had  a  book  for  the  registration 
of  other  acts  than  donations.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  entries  in 
any  one  of  them  were  numerous,  since  his  registrations  of  donations 
averaged  only  four  a  year.  The  entries  are  in  various  handwritings, 
so  that  probably  he  had  the  assistance  of  several  deputy  clerks  in  the 
bureau. 

Barrois  lived  at  Kaskaskia  until  December  of  1754.  He  called  him- 
self clerk  of  the  court  and  named  this  register  the  Record  of  the  Reg- 
istrations of  Donations  at  the  Court  of  the  Illinois .  Yet  writers  on 
Illinois  history  have  generally  regarded  Fort  Chartres  as  the  seat  of 
both  civil  and  military  government  and,  by  inference,  the  place  where 
the  court  of  justice  always  held  its  sessions.5  In  favor  of  this  view  is 
Pittman's  statement  that  the  fort  was  the  seat  of  government  and  that 
the  commissaire's  house  was  situated  there;6  the  burial  of  the  judge, 
Delaloire  Flancour,  in  1746  at  the  same  place;  the  statement  of  Bar- 
rois that  on  October  25. 1741,  he  was  requested  to  search  the  register  of 
the  late  M.  Jerome  of  Fort  Chartres,  whom  he  called  both  notary  and 
clerk,  for  a  donation  in  a  contract  of  marriage,  which  Jerome  had 
been  expected  to  register.7  Since  this  contract  of  marriage  was  drawn 
up  by  Jerome  on  November  8, 1739,  he  must  have  been  acting  as  notary 
and  clerk  of  the  court  at  Fort  Chartres  two  years  after  Barrois  had  be- 
gun his  register  of  donations  in  Kaskaskia.  From  these  facts  it  may 
be  inferred  that  between  January  15,1737  and  November  9,1739,  the 
judge  held  sessions  of  the  court  at  both  places,  unless  Barrois  was  acting 
as  deputy  of  Jerome  at  Kaskaskia.  It  is  not  probable,  however,  that 
Barrois  was  deputy  clerk  of  registrations,  since  there  was  no  provision 
for  such  an  officer  in  the  ordinances. 

But  was  the  court  at  Fort  Chartres  continued  after  1739?  Pittman's 
testimony  is  only  of  value  for  the  later  period  of  the  French  occupa- 
tion, and  it  is  certain  that  the  judge  sat  at  Fort  Chartres  after  De- 
cember, 1754;  for  during  that  month  Barrois  left  Kaskaskia,  where  he 
had  continued  to  register  acts  of  donation,  to  take  up  his  residence  at 


1.  The  names  Jean  Baptiste  were  obtained  from  a  contract  of  marriage,  drawn  up  by  Barrois 
in  1757,  in  which  he  appeared  for  the  bride,  his  daughter  Celeste.    Manuscript  in  the  Missouri 
Hist.    Society's   Collection.    In     the      register    he  called    himself  Bertlor  Barrois.    See  also 
American  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  II.  217. 

2.  Edits,  Oidonnances  Royaux,  etc  .  I,  217. 

3.  At  least  such  was  the  case  in  Montreal.    Ibid.,  II,  386. 

4.  Tsambert.  etc.,  Recueil  general,  XIX.,  289. 

5.  Mason,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  (Old  Fort  Chartres), 23  et  seq.;  Moses,  Illinois 
Historical  and  Statistical,  1, 98. 

6.  Pittman,  The  Piesent  State  of  the  European  Settlements.  45. 

7.  De  faire  recherche  dans  les  registres  de  feu  M.  Jerome  rivant  Greffier  aux  dites  Illinois  resi- 
dent an  fort  de  Chartres.    From  the  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations,  Oct.  25,1741;  see  also 
the  Appendix  III,  Jerome  Rousillet;  Mason,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  32. 


13 

Fort  Chartres,  as  is  proved  by  the  record.  Also  from  the  few  quota- 
tions from  the  sessions  of  the  court  made  by  Judge  Breese  we  know 
the  court  was  in  session  in  1756  at  the  same  place.1  Therefore  the 
question  concerns  only  the  years  1739  to  1754.  During  this  period 
the  fort  was  badly  in  need  of  repair  and  permanent  abandonment  of  it 
was  contemplated.2  So  dangerous  did  the  situation  become  in  1748 
that  the  commandant  temporarily  withdrew  his  troops  from  it  and 
concentrated  his  forces  at  Kaskaskia.3  The  quotations  of  Judge 
Breese  from  the  record  of  the  court  prove  it  to  have  been  in  session 
in  that  settlement  in  1749  and  1752.4  Furthermore,  on  Oct.  25,  1741, 
the  register  of  the  clerk  Jerome  was  in  the  hands  of  the  clerk  Barrois 
at  Kaskaskia.  which  would  not  have  been  the  case  had  a  successor  to 
Jerome  been  appointed  at  Fort  Chartres.5  The  natural  inference  from 
these  facts  is  that  the  civil  government  was  moved  from  Fort  Chartres 
to  Kaskaskia  sometime  after  1739  and  before  Oct.  25,  1741.  Still  the 
evidence  is  not  conclusive,  for  during  the  years  1737  to  1739  the  judge 
probably  held  court  at  both  places,  and  it  is  possible  that  this  con- 
tinued to  be  the  case.6 

The  rebuilding  of  Fort  Chartres  was  completed  in  the  year  1754, 
and  during  December  of  the  same  year  Barrois  began  to  date  his  reg- 
istrations at  Nouvelle  Chartres,  which  he  continued  to  do  up  to  the 
year  1757."  The  first  registry  of  his  successor,  Labuxiere,  dated 
March  14,  1757,  was  an  act  drawn  up  by  the  notary  Barrois  on  March 
10,  1757.  This  is  the  last  official  act  by  him  which  is  recorded  in  the 
Registre,  so  it  is  probable  that  he  died  between  that  date  and  March 
14.  If  that  was  the  case,  it  is  strange  that  Labuxiere  never  used  the 
phrase,  the  late  M.  Barrois;  but  it  is  possible  that  he  was  as  unfamil- 
iar with  the  correct  phraseology  as  he  proved  himself  to  be  with  other 
particulars. 

There  is  very  little  to  be  learned  from  the  register  about  Bertlor 
Barrois,  since  there  is  no  act  recorded  in  which  he  was  personally  in- 
terested. From  the  contract  of  marriage  of  his  daughter,  Celeste 
Therese,  in  the  collection  of  the  Missouri  Historical  Society,  we  learn 
that  he  was  at  that  time,  Jan.  8,  1757,  a  widower,  his  wife's  name 
having  been  Magdalen' Cardinal.  The  church  register  at  Kaskaskia 
contains  the  record  of  baptism  of  their  son,  Louis,  in  ]  732.8  In  the 
year  1756.  Magdalen  Barrois,  widow  of  Louis  Marin,  registered  her 
contract  of  marriage.  Possibly  she  was  another  daughter  if  her  name 
is  any  evidence.  When  the  United  States  government  sent  commis- 
sioners to  these  Mississippi  settlements  to  examine  the  land  titles, 
there  were  several  heirs  of  Barrois  living  in  the  Illinois  district.9 
From  the  same  source  comes  information  of  an  earlier  date  which 


1.  Breese,  Early  History  of  Illinois,  214-220. 

2.  Mason.  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Old  Fort  Chartres), 32. 

3.  Doc.  re  1.  to  the  Col.  Hist,  of  the  State  of  N.  Y..  X,  143. 

4.  Breese,  Early  History  of  Illinois,  217  et  seq. 

5.  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations,  October  25.1741 ;  see  above. 

6.  The  only  objection  is  that  the  registers  of  the  clerk  Jerome  were  sent  to  Kaskaskia. 
There  mipht  have  been  some  other  reason  for  this  than  the  one  proposed  in  the  text. 

7.  Ma*on,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Old  Fort  Chartres),  34;  Moses,  Illinois  Histor- 
ical and  Statistical,  I.  114. 

8.  "Kaskaskia  Church  Records,"  in  Transactions  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Soc.,  1904,  p.  399. 

9.  American  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  II,  138. 


14 

proves  the  notary  to  have  been  an  owner  of  land.  A  certain  man 
named  John  Rice  Jones  had,  in  1813,  a  claim  for  land  in  Kaskaskia, 
which  he  had  obtained  from  the  heirs  of  Catherine  Place,  said  to  be 
daughter  of  Jean  Baptiste  Lebert  dit  Barrois.1  The  claim  appeared 
to  the  commissioners  of  doubtful  validity,  because  there  were  evi- 
dences of  forgery.  Upon  investigation  it  was  found  that  in  an  old  rec- 
ord book  of  land  titles,  made  in  the  time  of  Judge  Louis  Auguste  De- 
laloire  Flancour,  there  was  a  claim  of  Jean  Bte.  Bertlor  Barrois  for 
thirty  toises  square  at  Kaskaskia,  granted  by  M.  d'Artuguiette  to  said 
Barrois  March  10,  1736;  also  two  arpents  of  land  granted  by  the  same 
commandant  Feb.  10,  ]  736.  The  entry  of  these  claims  was  made  May 
21,  1742.  Neither  of  them  was  the  land  claimed  by  Jones,  so  the 
commissioners  made  an  unfavorable  report,  although  the  belief  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Kaskaskia  seems  to  have  been  that  Bertlor  Barrois 
actually  possessed  land  situated  near  that  claimed  by  the  petitioner. 

Joseph  Labuxiere,2  the  successor  of  Barrois,  continued  to  keep  the 
register  at  Nouvelle  Chartres  until  the  end  of  the  French  Regime. 
He  is  said  to  have  come  from  Canada  and  to  have  married  Catherine 
Vifvarenne  of  St.  Philippe.3  Of  his  private  life  little  else  is  known. 
He  was  not  so  careful  in  conforming  to  the  law  as  his  predecessor, 
although  this  may  have  been  due  to  ignorance.  Still  a  general  relax- 
ing of  the  stricter  forms  of  government  is  to  be  noticed  throughout 
the  settlement,  a  sign  of  which  is  the  cessation  of  the  annual  inspec- 
tion of  the  register  by  the  judge  after  1757.  It  was  the  period  of  the 
Seven  Years  War  and  the  officials  in  the  Illinois  must  have  felt  them- 
selves completely  cut  off  from  the  home  government,  the  regular  com- 
munication with  which  had  formerly  held  them  so  strictly  to  their 
duties. 

Although  the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1763  had  ceded  this  territory  north 
of  the  Ohio  river,  it  was  not  until  Oct.  10,  1765.  that  the  English 
took  possession  of  Fort  Chartres.4  Up  to  that  time  the  French 
officials  continued  to  govern  the  district.  During  1763  Labuxiere 
registered  several  deeds.  In  the  next  year  there  was  no  entry  made 
until  the  autumn,  when  the  change  in  the  destinies  of  the  Northwest 
may  be  read  in  the  words:  "arreste  le  present  journal  le  dix  8bre 
1764,  Lefebvre^  Two  days  later,  however,  there  was  occasion  to 
open  the  book  again  to  enter  the  last  act  of  donation  drawn  up  and 
registered  by  French  officials  on  Illinois  soil. 

Several  years  elapsed  before  the  old  register  was  again  used.  Then 
it  was  to  record  acts  drawn  up  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
river  in  St.  Louis.  There  were  five  entries  made  between  September 
1,  1768,  and  June  6,  1769,  by  Labuxiere  in  that  settlement.  The 
book  was  still  called  the  Record  of  the  Registrations  of  the  Dona- 
tions at  the  Court  of  the  Illinois.  Although  this  seems  anomalous, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  explain.  That  part  of  the  province  of  Louisiana, 


1.  Amer.  State  Papers,  Pnblic  Lands,  II,  216. 

2.  Often  spelled  Labnssiere,  or  Labusciere. 

3.  Billon,  Annals  of  St.  Louis,  27. 

4.  Doc.  rel.  to  the  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  X,  1161. 

5.  '  'The  present  journal  is  stopped,  October  10,  1764.  Lefebvre."    Lefebvre  was  acting 
judge  at  that  time.    Doc.  rel.  to  the  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  X,  11(31. 


15 

which  was  west  of  the  Mississippi,  was  ceded  to  Spain  November  13, 
1762;  but  it  was  not  until  August  18,  1769,  that  the  Spaniards  took 
official  possession  of  it;  and  not  until  May  20,  1770,  that  their  repre- 
sentative arrived  in  St.  Louis.1 

Meanwhile,  there  was  need  of  some  form  of  government  in  St. 
Louis,  which  had  been  founded  by  Laclede  in  1764,  just  at  the  time 
when  these  various  changes  in  sovereignty  over  the  Mississippi 
valley  were  being  made.  As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  cession  of  the 
eastern  Illinois  to  the  English  reached  the  French  settlements,  there 
was  an  exodus  of  settlers  to  Laclede's  new  village  across  the  river,  so 
that  in  a  year  St.  Louis  became  a  more  populous  settlement 
than  Kaskaskia  had  ever  been.2  Relatively  only  a  few  were 
left  on  the  Illinois  side.  The  Commandant  Villiers  had  gone  to 
New  Orleans  with  most  of  his  officers  and  men  in  June,  1764,  and 
evidently  Valentine  Bobe  Desclauseaux,  the  last  officially  appointed 
judge  of  the  district,  had  followed  his  example;  at  least  he  dis- 
appeared from  these  regions.  To  represent  the  French  government 
at  Fort  Chartres,  until  the  English  should  take  possession,  there 
remained  St.  Ange  de  Belle  Rive,  Commandant;  Joseph  Lefebvre, 
Attorney  General,  Keeper  of  the  Royal  Warehouse,  and  acting  Judge ; 
and  Joseph  Labuxiere,  Clerk  and  Notary.3  After  the  deliverance  of  the 
fort  to  the  English,  they  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  they  continued  to  act 
in  their  official  capacity  as  representatives  of  France.  The  title  of 
their  government  was,  "The  Court  of  the  Illinois" ;  for  the  western 
bank  of  the  Mississippi  had  always  been  a  part  of  the  district.  On 
April  3,  1767,  Lefebvre  died.  Of  the  civil  officials  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment in  the  Illinois,  there  remained  but  one,  the  clerk  and  notary. 
Up  to  May,  1770,  Labuxiere  performed  the  duties  of  judge,  attorney, 
keeper  of  the  royal  warehouse,  clerk,  and  notary;  and  with  St.  Ange 
represented  the  French  government  in  the  conveyance  of  the  district 
to  the  Spaniards.4 

Under  Spanish  rule  Labuxiere  acted  as  notary  until  Dec.  23,  1780, 
after  which  date  Mr.  Billon  found  no  trace  of  him  in  St.  Louis.  He 
says:  "He  died  elsewhere,  I  think  at  new  Madrid,  and  left  three  sons, 
Joseph,  Louis,  and  Francois."5  From  the  records  of  the  court  of 
Cahokia,  founded  under  the  Virginia  Act  of  1778,  the  later  history 
of  Labuxiere  can  be  traced.6  By  June  29,  1782,  he  had  returned  to 
the  eastern  side  of  the  Mississippi:  for  the  County  Lieutenant  Rich- 
ard Winston  with  the  consent  of  the  court  of  Kaskaskia  appointed 


1.  Amer,  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  II.,  240;  King,  New   Orleans,  107,  et  seq.;   Ogg,  The 
Opening  of  the  Mississippi,  335  et  seq. 

2.  Billon,  Annals  of  St.  Louis,  passim. 

3.  Doc.rel.  to  the  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  X,  1161.    Mr.  Billon   must  be  mistaken  in  the  office 
held  by  Lefebvre.    He  calls  him  civil  judge,  and  says  that  later  he  was  appointed  keeper  of 
the  royal  warehouse.    This  is  a  reversal  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  offices.    Probably  he 
was  never  officially  appointed  judge,  so  retained  the  title  of  the  lower  rank  in  all  deeds, 
while    performing   the  duties  of   the  judicial  office.    This  was  the  usual  course.    Billon, 
Annals  of  St.  Louis,  30,  47. 

4.  Ibid.,  31,  47. 

5.  Ibid.,  30.    There  was  a  Joseph  Labussiere  in  New  Madrid  in  1806, but  he  was  only  twen- 
ty-one years  old.    Amer.  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  II,    577. 

6.  Catalog,  Nos.  2a,  3;  Mason,  Lists  of  Early  Illinois  Citizens,   Fergus  Hist.    Series,   No.  31, 
p.  68. 


16 

him  attorney  for  the  court  of  Cahokia.  On  December  of  the  same 
year  he  was  empowered  to  act  as  notary;  and  on  June  20,  1785,  he 
took  the  oath  of  office  as  clerk  of  the  court,  a  position  he  held  until 
the  establishment  of  a  government  by  the  United  States  over  this  ter- 
ritory in  1790.  He  died  on  April  29,  1791  and  left  many  heirs, 
as  is  apparent  from  their  claims  to  lands  before  the  United  States' 
commissioners.1  The  presence  of  Labuxiere  in  Cahokia  explains  how 
the  Record  of  Registrations  happens  to  be  now  in  Belleville.  He 
brought  it  across  the  river  with  him.  Since  Cahokia  was  not  a  seat 
of  government  under  the  French  regime,  there  never  were  many  offi- 
cial records  in  the  archives,  and  all  the  other  records  of  Fort  Chartres 
were  removed  to  Kaskaskia,  when  the  English  changed  the  seat  of 
government  to  that  village  in  1772.2 

There  was  still  another  official  connected  with  the  record  whose 
duties  must  be  explained.  According  to  the  royal  ordinance  the  reg- 
ister must  be  numbered,  paraphed,  and  once  every  year  inspected  and 
closed  by  the  principal  officer  of  the  court.3  This  inspection  and  clos- 
ing of  the  register  in  the  district  of  the  Illinois  was  performed  in 
January,  only  once  later.  From  1788  to  January,  1746,  this  duty  was 
discharged  by  Louis  Auguste  Delaloire  Flancour.  Esquire  (later  Sieur 
de  Flancour),  Principal  Scrivener  of  the  Marine,  subdelegate  of  M. 
de  Salmon,  (or  whoever  was  intendant),  Commissaire  and  Judge  of 
the  Civil  Court  in  the  district  of  the  Illinois.4 

The  first  title  is  not  explained  in  the  general  Ordinance  of  the 
Marine  by  Louis  XIV.  in  August  1681,  or  in  the  subsequent  supple- 
ments to  the  edict,  so  far  as  I  can  learn.5  There  were  ecrivains  in  the 
marine;  but  they  were  like  our  pursers  and  served  on  the  ship,  which 
they  could  not  leave  until  the  voyage  was  completed.6  This  Illinois 
official  served  on  land  and  evidently  was  a  subordinate  of  the  com- 
missaire general  of  the  marine  at  New  Orleans,  and  therefore  must 
have  had  supervision  of  the  fishing  and  boating  interests  of  the  dis- 
trict with  power  to  judge  in  the  first  instance  all  disputes  arising 
therefrom.7  All  officers  of  the  civil  government  were  connected  in  one 
way  or  another  with  the  marine.  As  subdelegate  of  the  intendant  he 
was  chief  of  the  departments  of  justice,  police,  and  finance.8  His 
duties  included  a  general  oversight  of  all  departments  of  civil  govern- 
ment; but  his  power  was  not  well  defined  and  must  have  brought  him 
into  frequent  conflict  with  the  major-commandant.  The  next  titles, 
commissaire  and  judge,  probably  represented  one  office,  namely  that 
of  judge  of  the  civil  and  criminal  court.  The  law  of  the  French  col- 
onies was  that  of  the  provosty  and  viscounty  of  Paris  or  to  give  it  the 
better  known  name,  the  coutume  de  Paris.9  Capt.  Pittman  who  vis- 
ited the  settlements  on  the  Mississippi  a  few  years  after  the  end  of 


1.  Missouri  Reports,  IV.  343;  American  State  Papers,  Public  Lands.  I.  and  II,  index. 

2.  Mason.  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Old  Fort  Chartres),  43. 

3.  Isamhert,etc.,AV<-w«/£Z'«^tf/,  XXI,    349, arts.  24  and  25. 

4.  Ecrirain  principal  de  la  marine,  subdelegiie  de  M.  de  Salmon,  commissaire  et  tenant  le  siege 
civil  de  justice  aux  Illinois.     Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations, 

5.  Isambert.etc.,  Recueil general,  XIX,  282-366;  Edits,  OrdonnancesRoyaux,  etc.,  1, 360-364, 391- 
394, 434-436, 532-533. 546-550. 

6.  Isambert.etc. ,Reci<eil general.  XIX.  306. title, III. 

7.  Ibid.,  XIX,  285;  Rambaud,  Histoire  de  la  Civilization  fraticaise  II.    244-246. 

8.  Ibid.,  II,  30-34;  see  numerous  commissions  of  intendants  in  Edits,  Ordonnances  Royaux, 
etc..  III. 

9.  French,  Hist.  Collections  of  La.,  \\\,  49-59,  art.  15. 


17 

the  French  dominion  has  characterized  this  official  with  many  offices, 
as,  "a  mere  cypher  rather  kept  for  form  than  for  real  use,"  and  his 
judgment  has  been  accepted  by  more  recent  writers.1  Remembering 
the  part  played  by  the  intendants  in  the  government  of  France  and 
the  continual  quarrels  of  the  governors  and  intendants  in  Quebec  and 
New  Orleans,  one  hesitates  to  accept  this  judgment  of  a  passing 
English  soldier  as  final,  unless  substantiated  by  some  convincing  evi- 
dence, which  up  to  the  present  time  has  not  been  produced. 

The  judge  after  inspecting  the  register  wrote  in  it  the  following 
formula:  "Today,  the  23  of  January,  1731,  we  (name  and  titles), 
having  found  that  the  present  register  conforms  to  the  King's  decla- 
ration of  February  17,  1731,  and  having  numbered  and  paraphed  it, 
do  hold  it  closed  from  this  day,  and  have  left  it  in  the  possession  of 
Bertlor  Barrois,  as  clerk  of  the  jurisdiction  of  this  court,  in  order 
that  he  may  be  able  to  communicate  its  contents  to  all  persons  who 
shall  have  an  interest  therein.  This  is  all  done  in  accordance  with 
the  above  mentioned  declaration.  At  Kaskaskia,  the  day  and  year 
above  written,  I  have  signed." 

Flancour  died  in  1746.  and  was  buried  at  Fort  Chartres.2  In 
January  of  the  next  year  the  office  of  judge  was  vacant,  and  the 
register  was  inspected  and  closed  by  Joseph  Buchet,  who  was  keeper 
of  the  king's  warehouse  and  acting  as  royal  attorney  and  judge.3 
The  garde  des  m'agazins  belonged  to  the  department  of  the 
marine;  and  his  duty  was  to  maintain  a  sufficient  supply  of  all 
necessities  for  the  equipment  of  the  army,  and  for  trade  with,  and 
gifts  to,  the  Indians.4  In  1748  Buchet  was  still  performing  the  duties  of 
all  the  higher  offices,  but  in  the  next  year  he  signed  himself 
Scrivener.  Subdelegate,  Commissaire,  and  Judge,  thus  announcing  to 
us  his  promotion.  He  held  the  position  until  January  12,  1757.  at 
least.5  After  that  date  the  officials  evidently  became  more  lax  in  dis- 
charging their  duties,  for  the  register  was  never  again  officially 
inspected  by  the  judge  of  the  court,  although  the  names  of  two  men 
are  known  who  acted  in  that  capacity,  John  Arnold  Valentine  Bobe 
Desclauseaux,  who  signed  a  deed  November  11,  1763,  and  Joseph 
Lefebvre,  who  accompanied  St.  Ange  to  St.  Louis.6 

THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  OCCUPATION. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  only  a  few  local  records  have  been  known 
of  the  period  of  the  Virginia  occupation,  such  as  Clark's  narratives 
and  letters;  John  Todd's  Record-Book:  St.  Clair  Papers;  and  the 


1.  Pittman,  The  Present  State  of  the  European  Settlements.  45. 

2.  Mason,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  (Old  Fort  Chartres),  33;  Church  Records  of  Ste. 
Anne. 

3.  \ous,  Joseph  Buchet,  Garde  d?s  ma^azins  du  Roi  aux  Illinois,  Procureur  aux  lieu  vacans  et 
de  la  majeste  an  dit  lieu  garde  la  jurisdiction   royal  des  Illinois .    le  siege  racans.    Registere  des 
Insinuations  des  Donations.  January  16.  1747. 

4.  Isambert.  etc..  Recue /'/ gene ral.  XIX,    284,  art.  14.    See  inventory  of  goods  in  the  ware- 
house in  Billon,  Annals  of  St.  Louis.  47. 

5.  In  1756,  Huchet was  absent  and  the  register  was  inspected  by   Andre  Chevalier,  who 
signed  himself  "Garde  des  Magazms,    Subtreasurer.    Attorney,   and    acting  Judge    in  the 
absence  of  M.  Buchet." 

6.  Billon,  Annals  of  S.  Louis,  31;  Doc.  r;l.  to  the  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,   X,  1161. 


-2  H 


18 

American  State  Papers;1  Only  two  of  these  are  both  contemporary 
and  local.  On  account  of  this  scarcity  of  sources  the  documents  of 
this  period  at  Belleville  are  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  of  all 
those  in  the  archives  of  the  court  house  and  will  illuminate  an  ob- 
scure period  of  state  history.  Cahokia  was  not  a  centre  of  govern- 
ment under  the  French  and  accident  alone  accounts  for  tLe  presence 
there  of  the  record  which  has  been  described;  but  under  the  Virgin- 
ia dominion  a  court  and  a  commandant  were  established  in  the  vil- 
lage and  the  numerous  documents  of  this  government  were  finally  car- 
ried to  Belleville,  where  they  have  been  preserved.2  There  are  a  few 
sheets  of  a  record  in  the  English  language  of  a  court  which  sat  in 
Cahokia  between  the  time  of  Clark's  conquest  and  the  establishment 
of  a  civil  government  by  John  Todd.  The  remaining  documents  are 
written  in  French  with  an  occasional  copy  of  an  English  paper. 
Among  them  is  an  almost  complete  record  of  the  sessions  of  the  Vir- 
ginia court  at  Cahokia  from  Nov.  26,  1779,  to  April  1, 1/90;  and 
the  register  of  the  clerk  of  the  same  court.  Besides  these  there  are  the 
minutes  of  the  sessions  of  the  court  of  the  "justice  of  the  week"  for 
July  9,  1785,  to  Feb.  18,  1786;  and  about  four  hundred  miscel- 
laneous papers  such  as  petitions  to  the  court,  briefs,  warrants,  etc.3 

If  the  documents  of  this  period  are  the  most  valuable,  the  most  in- 
teresting of  them  is  the  record  of  the  court,  which  held  sessions  im- 
mediately after  the  conquest  in  the  summer  of  1778;  because  it  sup- 
plements the  account  of  the  civil  government  given  in  Clark's  memoirs 
where  is  found  the  only  notice  in  his  writings  of  the  organiza- 
tion established  by  him  in  the  territory.  He  there  says:  "I  inquired 
particularly  into  the  manner  the  people  had  been  governed  formerly, 
and  much  to  my  satisfaction,  (I  found)  that  it  had  been  generally  as 
severe  as  under  the  militia  law.  I  was  determined  to  make  an  advan- 
tage of  it,  and  took  every  step  in  my  power  to  cause  the  people  to  feel 
the  blessings  enjoyed  by  an  American  citizen  which  I  soon  discovered 
enabled  me  to  support,  from  their  own  choice,  almost  a  supreme 
authority  over  them.  I  caused  a  court  of  civil  jurisdiction  to  be  es- 
tablished at  Cahokia,  elected  by  the  people.  Major  Bowman,  to  the 
surprise  of  the  people,  held  a  poll  for  a  magistracy,  and  was  elected 
and  acted  as  judge  of  the  court.  (Manuscript  here  illegible.)  After 
this  similar  courts  were  established  in  the  towns  of  Kaskaskia  and 
St.  Vincent.  There  was  an  appeal  to  myself  in  certain  cases  and  I 
believe  that  no  people  ever  had  their  business  done  more  to  their  sat- 
isfaction than  they  had  through  the  means  of  these  regulations  for  a 
considerable  time."4 


1.  Clark  's  Sketch  of  his  Cantvaign  in  the    Illinois,    Ohio    Valley  Hist.  Serie',    No.  3;    Clnrk's 
Mss.,  in  the  Library  of   the    Wis.    Hist.  Soc. ;    Clark's  Memoir,    in   English's   Conqiiest  of  th« 
North-west,   I,   457-565,  and  partially  printed  in  Dillon,    Indiana,    114-167,   and  ///.  Hist.   Collec- 
tions, vol.  1,  passim ;  Mason,  John  Todd's  Record- Book,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  33;    Smith,    St. 
Clair  Papers,  Public  Lands,  2  vols. 

2.  See  Catalog. Nos.  1,  2a,  2b,  3,  4,  5a,  6,  9.    For  two  reasons  I  have  discussed  the  docu- 
ment of  the  French  period  at  relatively  greater  length  than  these.    First  it  was  possible  to  say 
all  that  is  essential  to  be  said  of  the  register  at  the  present  time.    In  the  second  place,  the  doc- 
uments of  the   Virginia  period  being  longer  and  more  important  require  a  more  careful  study 
than  I  have  been  able  to  give  them  up  to  the  present.    I  have  therefore  limited  myself  to  using 
only  the  most  apparent  information  contained  in  them. 

3.  Juge  de  semaine . 

4.  English,   Conquest  of  the  North-west,   I.,   Appendix,  484. 


19 

The  new  source  is  a  record  of  this  court  at  Cahokia  which  is  writ- 
ten on  both  sides  of  four  loose  sheets  of  paper.1  Their  mutilated  con- 
dition and  the  fact  that  the  pages  are  not  consecutive  are  evidences 
that  they  once  formed  part  of  a  book  in  which  the  complete  record 
had  been  kept.  It  was  written  in  English  by  two  persons,  one  of 
whom  was  evidently  Captain  Bowman  and  the  other,  Lieutenant  Per- 
rault.  There  are,  in  all,  incomplete  records  of  nine  sessions  of  this 
"Court  of  the  Committee  of  Cahos."  The  dates  are  as  follows: 
Thursday,  Dec.  31,  1778;  Thursday,  Jan.  7,  1779;  Friday,  Jan.  8;  date 
lost;  date  lost;  Friday,  April  12:  date  lost;  Friday,  April  '60;  Friday, 
May  7.  From  one  of  the  other  documents  we  learn  that  the  court 
was  in  session  as  early  as  Nov.  2,  1778,  for  it  issued  an  order  for  a 
public  sale  on  that  date.2  The  cases  brought  before  the  court  were 
both  civil  and  criminal.  There  is  no  evidence  of  a  trial  by  jury. 

At  seven  of  the  sessions  there  were  four  judges;  at  one,  five;  at  one 
only  two.  In  this  last  case  the  court  adjourned  for  lack  of  a  quorum. 
The  president  of  the  court  up  to  Jan.  7,  and  from  the  second  session 
held  in  April,  was  Captain  Bowman.  The  absence  of  Bowman  from 
Cahokia  from  the  middle  of  January  to  the  firsi  week  in  April  is  ex- 
plained by  his  presence  on  the  winter  expedition  made  by  Clark 
against  Vincennes.  He  had  been  recalled  to  Kaskaskia  by  Clark  in 
January  to  help  repel  a  threatened  attack  on  that  place  by  the  British 
and  did  not  return  to  Cahokia  before  the  Vincennes  expedition.  From 
his  journal  we  learn  that  he  was  in  Kaskaskia  before  Jan.  27.  Clark 
started  for  Vincennes,  Feb.  5  and  did  not  begin  his  return  journey 
until  the  last  of  March,  so  that  Bowman  could  not  reach  Cahokia  in 
time  for  the  session  of  the  court  on  April  2.3  During  his  absence 
Lieutenant  Perrault  was  president,  and  the  record  contains  an  account 
of  his  taking  the  oath  of  office.  The  judges  assisting  the  president 
were  not  always  the  same;  but  in  all  the  sessions  the  names  of  seven 
judges  besides  the  two  presidents  are  given.  These  are,  Langlois, 
Captain  Turanjeau,  Gratiot,  Captain  Trottier,  Granot,  Girardin,  and 
Beaulieu.  Evidently  there  was  a  bench  of  eight  judges  counting  the 
president  of  the  court.  The  number  of  judges,  the  number  required 
for  a  quorum,  and  the  weekly  sessions  remind  us  of  the  county  court 
of  Virginia  upon  which  this  court  was  obviously  modeled.4  Since  these 
judges  were  elected  by  the  people  the  first  election  on  the  soil  of  Illi- 
nois was  not  held  in  May,  1779,  by  John  Todd,  as  has  been  assumed 
by  former  writers,  but  in  the  autumn  of  1778  under  the  authority  of 
George  Rogers  Clark.5 

After  the  conquest'  of  the  northwest  by  Clark,  the  Assembly  of 
Virginia  passed  in  October,  1778,  an  act  to  establish  a  civil  and  mili- 
tary government  in  the  territory  which  was  christened  the  county  of 


1.  Catalog,  No.  ."a 

2.  Catalog,  No.  2b. 

3.  Clark's  Sketch,  in  Ohio  I'alley  Hist.  Series,  No.  3,  p.  76:   Bowman  '.s-  Journal,  in  same,  99; 
Clark's  Memoir,  in  Dillon,  Indiana,  161.  also  in  English.  Conquest  of  the  North-west,^.,  520. 

4.  Hening.  Statutes  at  Large,  V..489,  art.  1. 

5.  Mason,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  55;  Boyd,  "The  County  of  Illinois,"  in  Amer, 
Hist.  Ktn-ieTv,  IV,  4, p.  628. 


20 

Illinois.1  In  the  preamble  it  is  stated  that  the  government  was  to  be 
temporary  in  character  since,  "On  account  of  the  remoteness  of  the 
region  it  was  difficult,  if  not  impracticable,  to  govern  it  by  the 
present  laws  of  the  commonwealth/'  The  governor  was  empowered 
to  appoint  a  county  lieutenant  or  commander-in-chief,  who  was 
authorized  to  appoint  and  commission  deputy  commandants,  militia 
officers  and  commissaries,  who  were  to  serve  during  his  pleasure. 
The  citizens  of  the  region  were  to  be  assembled  to  elect  such  civil 
officers  as  they  were  accustomed  to.  These  were  to  receive  their 
commissions  from  the  county  lieutenant  and  to  be  paid  for  their 
services  as  had  been  customary.  Provided  other  officials  were  needed, 
they  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  county  lieutenant  with  the  advice 
of  the  council,  and  drafts  might  be  made  on  the  treasury  of  Virginia 
to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  pounds  for  their  salaries.  All  officials, 
both  civil  and  military,  were  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Vir- 
ginia and  the  oath  of  office  according  to  the  form  of  their  own  re- 
ligion. In  criminal  prosecutions,  if  the  defendants  were  found 
guilty,  the  lieutenant  might  grant  pardons,  except  in  cases  of  murder 
and  treason.  In  these  cases  he  could  only  suspend  execution  until 
they  had  been  reviewed  by  the  government  of  Virginia. 

On  December  12,  1778,  Patrick  Henry,  Governor  of  Virginia,  com- 
missioned John  Todd  as  County  Lieutenant  of  the  county  of  Illinois. 
The  following  passages  of  his  letter  to  Todd  pertain  to  the  formation 
of  the  civil  government  and  to  the  powers  granted  it:  "Altho  Great 
reliance  is  placed  on  your  prudence  in  managing  the  people  you  are 
to  reside  among,  yet  considering  you  as  unacquainted  in  some  Degree 
with  their  Genius,  usage  and  maners,  as  well  as  the  Geography  of 
the  Country,  I  recommend  it  to  you  to  consult  and  advise  with  the 

most  inteligible  and  upright  persons  who  may  fall  in  your  way." 

******* 

"and  I  know  of  no  better  Gen'l  Direction  to  Give  than  this  that  you 
Consider  yourself  at  the  head  of  the  Civill  department  and  as  Such 
having  the  Comm'd  of  the  militia  untill  ordered  out  by  the  civil 
Authority,  and  to  act  in  conjunction  with  them." 

"You  are  on  all  Accatons  to  inculcate  on  the  people  the  value  of 
liberty  and  the  Difference  between  the  State  of  free  Citizens  of  the 
Commonwealth  and  that  Slavery  to  which  Illinois  was  Destined.  A 
free  and  equal  representation  may  be  expected  by  them  in  a  little 
Time,  together  with  all  the  improvmts  in  Jurisprudence  and  police 
which  the  Other  parts  of  the  State  enjoy." 

'•The  Ditails  of  your  Duty  in  the  civil  Department  I  need  not  give 
you,  its  best  Direction  will  be  found  in  yr  innate  love  of  Justice  and 
Zeal,  to  be  intencively  usefull  to  your  fellow-men.  A  general  Direc- 
tion to  act  according  to  the  best  of  yr  Judgment  in  cases  where  these 
Instructions  are  Silent  and  the  laws  have  not  Otherwise  Directed  is 


1.  Hening,  Statutes  at  Large,  IX,  5?2-535;  printed  also  in  Appendix  IV. 


21 

given  to  you  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  for  yr  Great  Distance 
from  Governmnt  will  not  permit  you  to  wait  for  Orders  in  many 
Cases  of  Great  Importance."1 

In  May,  1779,  Todd  reached  Kaskaskm.  His  first  duty  was  to  at- 
tend to  the  appointment  of  militia  officers.  In  most  cases  he  con- 
firmed the  appointments  made  by  Clark  in  Cahokia;  for  Commandant 
Trottier  and  Captain  Turanjeau  of  his  list  of  officers  bear  the  title  of 
c; i]  itain  in  the  record  of  Clark's  court.2  On  the  other  hand  Perrault, 
who  was  lieutenant  and  justice  under  Clark,  received  no  office  under 
the  new  government. 

The  act  of  the  Virginia  assembly  required  the  election  of  offi- 
cers, "for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  the  administration  of  justice," 
such  as  the  inhabitants  were  accustomed  to.3  Did  Todd  follow  his 
instructions  in  this  particular?  The  inhabitants  had  experienced 
within  recent  years  both  French  and  English  judicial  institutions, 
either  of  which  he  might  have  followed  and  remained  within  both 
spirit  and  letter  of  the  act.  The  former  had  consisted  of.  one  judge 
who  tried  both  civil  and  criminal  cases  without  the  assistance  of  a 
jury.  The  English  court  had  been  created  by  a  proclamation  of  Colonel 
Wilkins  on  November  21, 1768,  which  was  issued  in  accordance  with  a 
letter  of  instructions  from  General  Gage.4  This  court  was  composed  of 
seven  judges  and  was  held  every  month  at  Fort  Chartres.  At  most 
it  had  jurisdiction  only  over  civil  cases  and  very  probably  it  was  lim- 
ited to  actions  for  debt  and  the  trials  were  held  without  jury.5  What 
change,  if  any,  was  made  in  the  character  of  the  court  by  the  "Quebec 
Act"  of  1774,  which  subordinated  the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  river 
to  the  government  of  Canada,  I  do  not  know;  but  as  the  British  troops 
were  withdrawn  from  the  Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1776,  leaving  a 
Frenchman,  Rocheblave,  in  charge,  there  was  practically  no  time  to 
inaugurate  a  radical  change.6  Under  Philippe  de  Rocheblave  what- 
ever order  had  been  introduced  into  the  department  of  justice  by  the 
English  commandant  disappeared.  Certain  English  merchants  com- 
plained that  he  acted  against  them  in  the  dual  capacity  of  attorney 


1.  Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,  I.,  312  et  seq.;  also  in  Mason,    John  Todd's  Record- Book  Fergus 
Hist.  Series,  No.  33,  pp.  159-164. 

2.  AW.  ,164. 

3.  Hening,  Statutes  at  Large,  IV,  553;  appendix  IV. 

4.  I  have  been  unable  to  find  either  proclamation  or  letter,  nor  have  I  seen  a  reference  as 
to  where  they  may  be  found.    The  accounts  in  the  various  histories  quoted  below  show  such  a 
striking  similarity  that  they  must  have  been  derived  from  a  common  source.    This  may  of 
course  be  the  original  documents.    Brown,  History  of  Illinois,  213;  Davidson  and  Strive,  A  Com- 
plete Hit  to  ry  of  Illinois,  165;  Moses.  Illinois  Statistical  and  Historical, \,   140;  Dunn.  Indiana.  78. 

5.  Moses,  Court  of  Enquiry  at  Fort  Chartres.  292.    In  this  account,    which  differs  from   the 
generally  accepted  one,   Moses  has  drawn  his  information  from  the  statement   in  a  letter  of 
Ensign  George   Butricke,  who  was  stationed  at  Fort  Chartres  at  this  period.    Speaking  of 
Colonel  Wilkins  he  w-ote:  "He  has  now  granted  commissions  of  the  peace  to  several  people, 
both  French  and  English;  of  these  he  has  formed  a   court  of  judicature,    who  are  allowed  to 
determine  on  all  causes  of  Debt  without  a  Jury.     How  this  may  answer  with  the  laws  of  Great 
Britain  1  will  not  pretend  to  sav.    He  has  appointed  Mr.  George   Morgan   president  of  this 
court  which  has  given  great  offence  to  all  the  French  inhabitants  in  the  colony,  he  being  uni- 
versally hated  by  all  those  people."    Hist.  Magazine,  VIII,  262-270. 

6.  Houston,  Constitutional  Documents  of  Canada,  90;  Coffin,   The  Province  of  Quebec  and  the 
Early  American  Revolution,  Univ.  Wis.  Bulletin,  I..  276 et  seq.;  Mason,  Philippe  de  Rocheblave 
and  Rocheblave  Papers,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  34,  p.  237;  "Clark  and  the  Kaskaskia  Campaign 
Documents",  in  Amer.  Hist.  Review,  VIII.  492. 


22 

and  judge;  and  Rocheblave  explained  that  persons  accused  of  crime 
demanded  first  English  and  then  French  law  according  as  one  or  the 
other  was  favorable  to  them.  From  these  complaints  it  is  evident 
that  Rocheblave  was  acting  as  sole  judge  in  both  civil  and  criminal 
cases  and  that  the  English  bench  of  seven  judges  no  longer  existed,1 

Although  a  reversion  to  the  older  French  procedure  had  appar- 
ently taken  place,  still  Todd  might  have  urged  the  previous  use  of 
the  English  court  as  a  justification  for  ignoring  the  French  model: 
for  the  inherent  dislike  of  Americans  for  the  one-man  rule  would 
have  debarred  that  kind  of  a  court,  even  if  there  had  been  anyone  in 
the  county  capable  of  performing  the  duties  of  judge.  It  is  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  English  residents,  such  as  Daniel  Murray 
and  Richard  Winston,  must  have  thrown  the  weight  of  their  influence 
against  the  reinstatement  of  the  French  tribunal. - 

Todd  apparently  gave  little  attention  to  either  of  these  earlier 
courts;  for  there  were  in  existence  judicial  institutions  with  which  he 
was  familiar,  even  if  the  inhabitants  had  not  yet  become  accustomed 
to  them.  These  were  the  courts  founded  by  Clark  in  the  three 
villages.  As  has  been  said,  they  were  modeled  after  the  county 
court  of  Virginia;  an  institution  which  both  Clark  and  Todd  had 
helped  to  introduce  into  Kentucky,  just  previous  to  starting  on  the 
expedition  to  the  Illinois.3  The  county  government  of  Virginia 
consisted  of  the  county  lieutenant,  the  court,  and  the  minor 
officials.  The  court,  which  had  both  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction, 
was  composed  of  the  justices  of  the  peace,  and  held  monthly  ses- 
sions.4 The  most  important  differences  between  the  institution  as  it 
was  founded  in  Illinois  and  its  prototype  were  the  election  of  the 
justices  by  popular  vote  and  the  existence  of  three  courts  in  one 
county.  The  first  of  these  differences  was  established  by  the 
Virginia  assembly,  and  the  second  was  due  to  the  distances  between 
the  villages.  Eleven  years  later  Governor  St.  Clair  was  obliged  to 
adopt  a  similar  expedient  for  the  same  reason.5  But  in  both  cases 
the  judicial  institutions  thus  created  were  town  rather  than  county 
courts. 

Nine  justices  of  the  peace  were  elected  in  Kaskaskia,  and  seven  in 
each  of  the  villages  of  Cahokia  and  Vincennes.6  In  Cahokia,  at  least, 
elections  were  regularly  held  until  1789.  During  the  first  few  years 
the  formality  of  taking  the  oath  of  office  took  place  on  June  19. 7  The 
observance  of  this  date,  which  was  so  religiously  adhered  to,  leads  me 
to  believe  that  it  was  the  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  the  first 
popular  government  in  Illinois  by  John  Todd.  Interesting  as  would 
be  the  determination  of  the  date  of  this  event  in  the  history  of  the 


1.  Mason,  Philipve  de  Rocheblave  and  Rocheblave  Papers ,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  34,  pp.1'57, 
262. 

2.  Ibid.,  289.  Rocheblave  called  both  of  them  Englishmen. 

3.  Roosevelt,   The    Winning  of  the    West,    1,320-322;  (/ark's  Memoir,   in  Dillon,  Indiana, 
115-119.    Todd's  presence  in  the  campaign  has  been  questioned.     English,    Conquest  of  the 
Northwest,  I,    253.    But  see  Mason,  Illinois  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  51. 

4.  Statutes  at  Large,  \~ .,  45;  Howard.  Lncal  Constitutional  History  of  the  U.  S.,  88-97 ;  Chan- 
ning,   Town  and  County  Government,  J.  H.  U.  Studies,  II,  45. 

5.  Smith.  St.  Clair  papers,  II,  172. 

6.  Jitge  de  Paix. 

1.  Record  of  the  court  at  Cahokia. 


state,  the  evidence  is  not  sufficient  to  give  more  than  a  probable 
result.  It  is  known  that  Todd  appointed  the  militia  officers  in 
Cahokia  on  May  14,  1779,  and  about  the  same  time  must  have 
announced  the  election  of  the  civil  offices.1  Law  and  common  usage 
would  have  required  that  some  time  elapse  after  the  proclamation 
before  proceeding  to  the  election,  so  that,  with  preparations  and 
delays,  it  might  well  have  been  June  19  before  the  new  government 
was  installed.  The  ucherif "  was  for  a  few  years  also  elected  by  popu- 
lar vote;  but  later  he  was  named  by  the  court,  as  were  the  clerk  and 
bailiff  (huissier)  from  the  beginning.2 

The  court  held  a  session  regularly  every  month.  Usually  one  day 
was  sufficient  for  the  transaction  of  all  legal  business;  but  occasion- 
ally there  were  adjournments  to  the  next  day  and  also  extraordinary 
meetings  during  the  month.  For  the  interim  the  court  appointed  one 
of  its  members  juge  de  semaine,  whose  duties  were  similar  to  the 
Virginia  justice  of  the  peace.  Without  a  careful  study  of  the  record, 
it  will  be  impossible  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  law  in  use;  but  there 
is  no  reasonable  doubt  but  that  in  most  cases  the  French  law  was  fol- 
lowed, although  at  times  the  English  procedure  and  probably  the  law 
were  used.  There  are  several  instances  of  trial  by  jury,  the  first  oc- 
curring in  1780. 3  In  this  first  case  the  eight  jurors  were  illiterate 
Frenchmen  and  made  their  marks.  In  the  registration  of  deeds  the 
same  formulae  were  employed  as  in  the  register  of  the  French  court 
described  above.4 

The  government  thus  established  was  soon  left  to  its  own  guidance 
without  interference  on  the  part  of  Virginia.  John  Todd  had  decided 
as  early  as  Aug.  17,  1779,  to  ask  to  be  relieved  of  his  office,  and  he  re- 
mained in  Illinois  only  until  the  end  of  the  year.  On  Dec.  23,  he 
wrote  Governor  Jefferson  from  the  "Falls  of  the  Ohio,"  evidently  hav- 
ing left  his  post.  Jefferson  desired  him  to  reconsider  his  decision; 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever  returned  or  that  a  successor  was 
officially  appointed.  The  other  officials  of  the  county  continued  to 
regard  him  as  the  head  of  the  government  until  October,  17b!0,  as  is 
proved  by  their  letters  to  him.5  After  that  date  communication  be- 
tween the  east  and  Illinois  was  only  intermittent.  The  legal  condi- 


1.  Mason,  John  Todd's  Record-Book,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  33,  p.  164. 

2.  19  Juin  1780  Pres.  Cap/.  '1  rot  tier 

Ch.  Graf  iot 
Michel  Beaulieu 
Antoine  Girardin 

Pierre  Martin 

La  cour  assemble  Bpte.  Saucier 

Joseph  Lepage,  J.  Bpte.  La  Croix,  Clement  Langlois,  Ch.  Duchesne,  Fr  Couree,  Philippe  Jer- 
rais.  Antoine  Arinant  comme  ayant  ete  name  par  une  assemble  public  dimanche  dernier  18  du 
curant  dans  la  maison  de  M.  Fr.  Trottier  Cap.  Commandant  la  milice  des  Cahokios  pour  prendre 
lieurs  place  comme  en  qualite  dejuge  de  paix,  etc. 

Les  suirant  juges  mentiones  en  I 'outre  part  par  la  derniere  election  faite  out  prie  le  serment  de 
fidelite  aux  Etats  ainsi  que  celui  dejuge  de  Paix  etc.  selon  leurs  liste  a  I  ''exception  de  Joseph  Lepage 
abfant. 

La  cour  a  ordonne  que  Fr.  Saucier  soit  appointe  dark  de  la  cour. 
(There  followed  the  paths  of  dark  and  bailiff.) 

Jean  Bte.  Hubert  la  Ctotx  a  remi  a  le  cour  la  commission  de  Cherif.—Yrom  the  record  of  the 
court  at  Cahokia. 

3.  If  juries  were  not  used  during1  the  English  period,  as  appears  to  have  been  the  case,  this 
was  the  first  recorded  jury  trial  in  the  territory  of  the  present  state  of  Illinois. 

4.  Here  is  an  example  from  the  clerk's  register:    Se  requerant  la  dite  Marie  Aubuchon   in- 
sinuation du  dit  testament  lecture  faite  de  celui  en  notre  greffe  nous  /'arons  insinue  et  enregistre  sur 
la  rf.gistre  des  insinuation  de  la  siege  suivant  I  'ordonnance  pour  servir  et  va/oir  ce  que  de  raison  dont 
act  le  ditjour  et  an. 

5.  Mason,  John -Todd  Papers,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  33,  pp.  157,189,206,211,227,229. 


24 

tioii  of  the  government  of  the  country  became  anomalous,  for  the 
Virginia  Act  of  1778  establishing  the  county  was  to  remain  in  force 
only  for  twelve  months  and  thereafter  until  the  end  of  the  next  session 
and  no  longer,  in  May,  1780,  the  act  was  continued  by  the  assembly 
for  a  similar  period,  and  was  not  renewed.1  "The  statutory  organiza- 
tion of  Illinois  expired,  therefore  in  1781,  and  from  that  time  until 
the  passage  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  there  was  no  government  resting 
upon  positive  provisions  of  law  in  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
river."2 

The  reason  for  this  cessation  of  Virginia's  interest  is  to  be  found 
in  her  negotiations  with  the  United  States'  government  in  regard  to 
the  cession  of  this  territory  to  the  latter.  A  bill  to  that  effect  was 
passed  by  the  Assembly  as  early  as  Jan.  2,  1781,  but  the  business 
dragged  through  several  sessions  of  the  United  States  congress,  and 
it  was  not  until  March  1,  1784,  that  the  official  cession  was  com- 
pleted.3 

This  transfer  of  sovereignty  made  no  immediate  change  in  the  form 
of  government  or- in  the  political  condition  in  Illinois.4  The  isolation 
of  the  county  was  only  occasionally  broken.  In  1783,  there  were  in 
the  county  Virginia  commissioners,  who  reported  that  the  greatest 
confusion  prevailed  for  lack  of  proper  government.5  The  French  also 
made  several  attempts  to  arouse  either  Virginia  or  the  United  States 
to  take  some  action  in  their  behalf.  In  the  register  of  the  clerk  of 
the  court  of  Cahokia  there  is  an  account  of  an  assembly  of  the  inhab- 
itants called  by  the  commandant  April  3,  1781,  at  which  Pierre  Pro- 
vost of  Kaskaskia  was  appointed  to  represent  them  in  Virginia,  and, 
if  necessary,  at  the  congress  of  the  United  States.  Later  in  1783,  M. 
Carboneaux  was  sent  to  Virginia  on  a  similar  mission.  He  reported 
that  the  magistrates  through  neglect  of  their  duty  had  lost  all  con- 
trol, that  murderers  were  unpunished,  and  that  certain  persons  were 
establishing  themselves  as  lords  of  the  soil.6  The  same  representa- 
tive afterwards  carried  his  complaint  to  congress  and  on  Feb.  21, 1785, 
that  body  determined  to  send  commissioners  to  Kaskaskia;  but  there 
is  no  evidence  that  any  further  action  was  taken.7  In  the  summer  of 
1786,  the  inhabitants  of  Kaskaskia  again  petitioned  congress  for  a 
government.  The  reply  was  that  it  had,  "under  consideration  the 
plan  of  temporary  government  for  the  said  district  and  its  adoption 
will  be  no  longer  protracted  than  the  importance  of  the  subject  and  a 
due  regard  to  their  interest  may  require."8  The  next  year  Gen.  Har- 
mer  visited  the  district  and  stopped  some  of  the  abuses  such  as  land 
grabbing.9  The  government  promised  by  congress  was  not  established 
in  Illinois  until  the  spring  of  1790. 


1.  Herring,  Statutes  at  Large,  IX,  555,  X,  308;  Appendix,  TV. 

2.  Boyd,  "The  County  of  Illinois,"  in  A*ner.  Hist.Re-c.,  IV,  No.  4,625. 

3.  Journal  of  Congress,   VIII,    199,  203,  253,  IX,    47-51;  Herring.  Statutes  at  Large,  XI,  S71- 
575. 

4.  Journals  of  Congress,  IX.  47-51. 

5.  Draper  Collection,  Clark  Afss..  LX,    Illinois   Papers,  No.  3.  52.    This  is  a  copy  of  a  docu- 
ment in  the  office  of  the  Auditor  of  Public  Accounts  of  Virginia. 

6.  Ibid.  No.  3.  1-4.    This  is  only   an   extract  from  the  original  document;  Roosevelt,  The 
Winning  or  the  West,  II,  185. 

7.  Journals  of  Congress,     X,  45;  Boyd,  County  of  Illinois,  in  Amer.  Hist.  Rev..  IV,  634,  note  2. 

8.  Journals  of  Congress,  IV,  688. 

9.  Smith,  St.  Clair  Papers,  II,  32;   Amer.  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  I,   10. 


25 

Left  to  themselves  it  is  not  strange  that  the  needs  of  society  re- 
quired of  the  institutions,  created  under  the  Virginia  Act,  other  and 
more  complex  duties  than  had  been  originally  intended;  and  in  the 
difficulties  of  the  people  struggling  with  the  problem  of  self  govern- 
ment, is  found  sufficient  cause  i'or  extending  the  limits  of  power 
belonging  to  court  and  commandant.  These  limits  had  been,  at  best, 
very  indefinite,  as  a  reading  of  the  original  act  and  the  instructions 
of  Patrick  Henry  show.  In  each  of  the  villages,  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia, 
and  Vincennes,  was  a  commandant  and  a  court  with  other  officials. 
Over  these  was  the  county  lieutenant.  On  his  departure,  Todd 
apparently  appointed  Richard  Winston  as  his  deputy.  That  he  re- 
garded Winston  as  next  in  command  is  proved  by  his  letter  in  which 
he  delegated  to  him  the  chief  command  during  a  temporary  ab- 
sence.1 Denmnbrunt,  in  his  memorial  to  the  governor  of  Virginia,  in 
December,  1791,  stated  that  "when  Col.  Winston  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  the  county  of  Illinois,"  the  "said  colonel"  commis- 
sioned him  as  commandant  of  Kaskaskia.2  The  title  of  colonel  was 
that  borne  by  the  county  lieutenant.  Additional  evidence  is  found  in 
the  register  of  the  clerk  of  the  court,  where  there  is  a  letter  from 
Winston  in  which  he  signed  himself.  County  Lieutenant.3  This 
letter  was  dated  June  29,  1782.  When  he  ceased  to  act  as  head  of 
the  government  does  not  appear  from  any  of  the  records. 

On  the  authority  of  Governor  St.  Glair's  statement  that  after  Todd's 
departure,  "a  person  by  the  name  of  De  Numbrun  was  substituted," 
it  has  been  generally  believed  that  Demunbrunt  acted  at  some  time 
in  the  capacity  of  county  lieutenant;  but  he  clearly  stated  in  his 
memorial  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia  that  he  had  been  appointed 
commandant  of  Kaskaskia  by  Winston.4  In  Todd's  Record-Book 
there  are  two  entries  made  and  signed  by  Demunbrunt  as  Lieutenant 
Commander,  which  certainly  is  not  a  title  corresponding  to  county 
lieutenant,  but.  was  more  likely  borne  by  the  commandant  of  the 
village.5  After  the  end  of  Winston's  rule,  probably  there  was  no 
general  government  for  the  whole  county,  but  each  village  controlled 
its  own  destiny.  There  is  a  hint  that  such  was  the  case  in  the  fact, 
that  in  1783  the  judges  of  the  court  at  Cahokia  assumed  the  name  of 
magistrates,  and  the  title  of  commandant  of  Cahokia  does  not  appear 
in  the  record  after  that  date.  Francois  Trottier,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed commandant  by  Todd,  in  the  spring  of  this  year  petitioned 
the  court  to  relieve  him  of  his  office  temporarily,  as  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  Cahokia.  Later  in  the  record  he  was  always  called  M.  Francois 
Trottier,  a  significant  fact.6 


1.  Mason.  John  Todd's  Record- Book,  Fergus  Hist.  Series  No.  33,  p.  172. 

2.  ral.  of  Va.  State  Papers,  V,  407. 

4.  Amer  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  1,  19;  Boyd.  (.'oi/titv  of  Illinois,  -imet.  Hist.  Rev.,    IV, 
631:  Cal.of  Va.,  Stale  Papers.    \ ,   407;  Smith,   St.  Clatr  Papers.    II,    169.     Since  writing  the 
above  I  have  found  in  the  collection  of  the  Chicago    Hist.  Society  a  document,  dated  1784, 
•signed  Timothe  Demunbrnnt.  Major  Commandant. 

5.  Mason,  John  Todd's  Record -Book,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  33,  p.  18.").      Under  the  French 
the  major  commandant  was  in  charge  of  the  district,  while  there  were  other  commandants  in 
each  of  the  villages,  perhaps  called  lieutenant  commandants. 

6.  Record  of  the  court  at  Cahokia.    The  title  of  niajristrates  was,  however,   Riven  to  the 
Virginia    justices.    Ingle,  Local  Institutions  of  Virginia,  J.  H.  U.  Studies,,  III,  89. 


26 

By  a  careful  study  of  the  record  of  the  court  it  will  be  possible  to 
fill  out  our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  period  from  1779  to  1790, 
wThich  up  to  the  present  time,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  sources,  has 
been  very  fragmentary.  A  superficial  examination  of  the  sessions 
shows  that  the  court  exercised  many  sovereign  powers,  some  of  which 
belonged  legally  to  it,  while  others  may  have  been  assumed  from 
necessity  or  from  the  desire  for  gain.  Instances  of  such  administra- 
tive acts  are  numerous.  The  court  summoned  assemblies  of  the 
people:  issued  proclamations  and  passed  resolutions,  all  the  judges 
signing  the  record  on  such  occasions;  fixed  its  own  fees,  which  were 
not  excessive,  since  the  schedule  followed  closely  that  of  the  French 
court.  Such  acts  probably  did  not  exceed  the  limits  of  power  accorded 
any  Virginia  county  court,  or  the  authority  specially  granted  to  that 
at  Cahokia.  Todd  had  been  instructed  by  Governor  Henry  to  consult 
with  the  most  intelligent  of  the  inhabitants,  and  he  had  probably  per- 
mitted the  courts  to  decide  all  local  questions.  This  power  they  con- 
tinued to  exercise  after  his  departure.1  The  principal  abuse  of  power, 
charged  against  these  courts  of  Illinois,  was  that  they  granted  titles 
to  land.  This  they  unquestionably  did,  and  were  probably  guilty  of 
many  frauds.  The  judges  at  Vincennes  pleaded  ignorance  as  an 
excuse  for  their  action.  They  said  that  after  the  departure  of  Todd 
the  commandant  assumed  that  he  had  the  same  rights  as  were  exer- 
cised by  the  French  commandants  and  granted  this  privilege  to  the 
court.2  The  French  commandant  with  the  counsel  of  the  civil  judge 
did  possess  the  power  6f  granting  land  to  the  settlers,  as  is  shown  by 
the  numerous  claims  based  upon  such  grants  in  the  volumes  devoted 
to  the  public  lands  in  the  American  State  Papers.  Their  authority 
for  so  doing  was  delegated  to  them  by  the  governor  and  intendant  of 
the  province  of  Louisiana.3 

That  Todd  had  the  same  right  was  denied  by  Governor  St.  Clair. 
But  Todd's  own  proclamation  and  his  subsequent  action  prove  that 
he  believed  that  the  discretionary  power  given  him  included  also  this 
authority.  In  the  proclamation  of  June  15,  1779,  he  prohibited  all 
persons  from  making  new  settlements  upon  the  bottom  lands,  except 
in  the  manner  practiced  by  the  French.  The  proclamation  was  made, 
because  he  feared  an  inrush  of  speculators;  so  he  refused  to  allow 
settlements  except  in  the  long  narrow  strips  of  the  French  grants, 
which  stretched  from  the  river  to  the  bluffs.4  Later  Todd  gave  land 
to  the  settlers  at  the  new  post,  which  was  erected  at  the  junction  of 
the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  rivers,  and  asked  the  assembly  of  Virginia 
to  settle  the  price  saying  nothing  about  the  confirmation  of  titles.5 

If  Todd  believed  himself  empowered  to  dispose  of  land  titles  in 
this  manner,  there  is  nothing  strange  in  the  fact  that  Winston,  who 
was  his  delegate  and  successor,  should  have  acted  as  if  he  had  the 
same  authority.  But  after  1782  there  is  no  evidence  that  Winston  or 
anyone  else  held  the  office  of  county  lieutenant.6  What  authority, 


1.  Mason,  John  Todd's  Record-Book,  Fergus  Hist.  Series,  No.  33.  pp.  154-164. 

2.  Roosevelt,  The  Winningofthe  West,  II,  181;  Amer.  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  1,10,18. 

3.  Ibid.,  I. ,10,16;  Edits,  Ordonnances  Royaux,  etc.,  1,572-574.590. 

4.  Amer.  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  I,  18;    Mason,   John   Todd's  Record-Book,  Fergus  Hist. 
Series,  No.  34,  p.  171;  Roosevelt.   The  Winningofthe  West,  II,  171. 

5.  Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers.,  1,358. 

6.  See  page  21,  note  4. 


27 

except  that  of  the  courts  and  possibly  of  the  local  commandant,  re- 
mained in  the  county  to  regulate  the  occupation  of  the  land?  And 
there  was  need  that  authority  be  exercised,  for  the  conditions  were 
rapidly  changing.  Americans  were  crowding  into  the  territory;  108 
settled  in  Vincennes  and  a  larger  number  in  Illinois  before  1787. 1 
They  even  forced  themselves  into  the  government,  the  names  Philip 
Engel  arid  Thomas  Brady  appearing  on  the  list  of  judges  at  Cahokia 
in  1785.  On  account  of  these  conditions  and  since  the  United  States 
delayed,  the  courts  assumed  the  authority,  which  circumstances 
forced  upon  them.  After  the  first  grants,  there  was  no  hesitation 
and  many  frauds  were  practiced.  That  the  magistrates  believed,  as 
those  of  Vincennes  declared,  that  they  were  acting  within  their  au- 
thority seems  reasonable.  But  certainly  the  delegation  of  power  from 
Toddto  the  courts  had  been  stretched  beyond  the  utmost  limits. 

With  the  two  exceptions,  Brady  and  Engel,  the  court  was,  and  re- 
mained from  beginning  to  end,  French  in  its  personnel.  There  was 
no  law  against  re-election  and  generally  one  or  two  magistrates  of  the 
preceding  year  were  re-elected ;  but  no  name  appears  for  many  suc- 
cessive years  except  that  of  Philip  Engel,  who  remained  judge  from 
1785  to  1790.  The  first  clerk  was  Francois  Saucier,  who  was  succeed- 
ed in  1785  by  Joseph  Labuxiere,  of  whom  mention  has  already  been 
made,  For  some  reason  he  failed  to  be  re- appointed  in  1788;  but  the 
successful  candidate,  Pierre  Billet,  served  only  a  few  months,  when 
Labuxiere  was  recalled  to  the  office  which  he  retained  until  the  com 
ing  of  Governor  St.  Clair. 


1.  Roosevelt.    The  Winning  of  the  West,  III,  235,  note  1. 


DOCUMENTS  OF  ILLINOIS  UNDEK   THE    DOMINION   OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES,  1788-1818. 


The  next  group  of  documents  falls  in  the  period  between  the  organ- 
ization of  the  northwest  by  Governor  St.  Glair  and  the  establishment 
of  Illinois  as  a  state  in  1818.  Since  there  are  numerous  other  sources 
for  the  history  of  this  period,  the  Belleville  documents  do  not  contain 
much  of  general  interest.  For  this  reason  and  because  the  report  is 
already  long,  I  have  limited  myself  to  indicating  the  course  of  events 
without  further  discussion.  For  a  list  of  the  documents  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  catalog. 

The  government  of  the  Northwest  Territory  was  organized  1788; 
but  it  was  not  until  March  5,  1790,  that  St.  Olair  reached  the  Illinois 
and  put  an  end  to  the  French  court.  This  held  its  last  session  April 
1,1790  and  adjourned  to  May  3,  a  date  it  was  not  destined  to  keep: 
because  St.  Glair,  on  April  27,  1790,  established  St.  Glair  County, 
which  included  the  southwest  part  of  the  present  state  between  the 
Illinois  and  Ohio  rivers.1  Since  the  French  villages  were  so  far  apart, 
the  .Governor  divided  the  county  into  three  districts,  "though  not 
strictly  warranted  by  law",  and  the  "judges  of  the  peace"  were  so  dis- 
tributed that  the  courts  could  be  held  in  each,  while  the  judges  of 
probate,  the  prothoriotary  of  common  pleas,  and  the  clerk  were  in- 
structed to  appoint  deputies  to  act  in  two  of  the  districts.-  Later,  in 
1795,  Randolph  county  with  Kaskaskia  as  county  seat  was  separated 
from  St.  Glair,  Cahokia  being  the  chief  place  of  the  latter. 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  confronting  the  new  government 
was  the  question  of  land  titles.  The  whole  subject  of  land  grants 
under  the  French,  English,  and  Virginia  dominions  was  investigated, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  first  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  it  was 
finally  adjusted.3 

In  the  year  1800,  the  Northwest  Territory  was  divided  into  Ohio 
and  the  territory  of  Indiana  which  included  Illinois.  Finally  in  1809 
this  was  again  divided,  Illinois  territory  inchiding  the  district  west  of 
the  line  reaching  from  the  Wabash,  "due  north  to  the  territorial  line 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada." 

1.  Greene,  The  Government  of  Illinois,  14;  Moses,    Illinois  Historical  and  Statistical  I .,  196; 
Smith,  St.  C/air  Papers.  II.  165. 

2.  Ibid.,  II.  172. 

3.  Amer.  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  I,  and  II ;  U.  S.  -Statutes  at  Latge,  II,  337. 


29 

The  relative  paucity  of  documents  of  these  years  is  very  surprising, 
and  I  have  found  no  adequate  explanation.  With  the  exception  of 
the  records  of  deeds  and  of  wills,  with  a  record  of  the  court  of  com- 
mon pleas  for  a  few  months  during  the  years  1795  and  1796,  there  has 
been  preserved  almost  nothing  of  interest  before  the  year  1808.  After 
that  date  the  documents  are  numerous  and  all  offices  show  complete 
records  from  the  time  Illinois  was  admitted  as  a  state  in  1818. 


CATALOG  OF  THE  OLDEST  DOCUMENTS  IN  THE  COURT  HOUSE 
AT  BELLEVILLE. 

In  this  catalog  I  have  described  the  documents  as  they  were  pre- 
vious to  my  visit  to  Belleville.  Since  that  time,  the  documents  in 
the  office  of  the  circuit  clerk  have  been  bound  in  a  uniform  black 
cloth  binding  with  leather  corners  and  back.  What  has  been  done 
with  the  loose  and  unclassified  papers  in  the  county  treasurer's  office 
(No.  12  of  the  catalog),  I  do  not  know.  A  recommendation  was  made 
to  the  supervisors  that  these  be  arranged  in  order  and  deposited  in  a 
safer  place.  Some  explanation  of  the  cause  of  such  combinations  of 
documents  in  the  same  binding,  as  in  the  case  of  No.  5,  is  needed. 
These  documents  were  in  the  greatest  confusion,  when  I  first  saw 
them.  Without  a  premonition  that  my  arrangement  was  to  be 
regarded  as  final,  I  assorted  them  and  placed,  for  their  better  preser- 
vation, the  loose  sheets  and  the  smaller  documents  with  others  of 
similar  size.  The  binder  has  perpetuated  these  accidental  unions. 
For  the  same  reason  the  Extrait  des  Registre  de  la  Jurisdiction  des 
Cahos  has  been  dignified  with  some  parchment  covers,  which  were 
without  contents  until  I  placed  this  clerk's  register  within  them, 
because  it  fitted. 

OFFICE    OF    THE    CIRCUIT    CLEKK. 

1.  Reyistre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations  aux   Siege  des  Illinois,  January  15, 

1737 -June  26,  1769. 

Bound  in  parchment:  size,  13}^'  by  8J-2'  inches;  pages,  146;  blank  pages,  1; 
last  page  missing;  water-mark,  shield  with  fleur-de-lis,  surrounded  with 
scroll;  122  registries;  language,  French;  on  first  cover  Insinuations  is 
spelt  Insinutions,  but  it  is  corrected  on  the  back  cover. 

2.  a.  Record  of  the  court  at  Cahokia,  November  26,  1779 — April  1,  1790. 

Unbound;    made   up    of    six  record   books  sewed  together;  size  varies, 
but  it  is  about  12>2'   by  8   inches;   pages,  348;  blank  pages.  48;  several 
pages  missing;  various  water-marks;   no  name  to  document;  language, 
French, 
b.  Eecord  of  public  sales.  November  2,  1778 — June  22,  1782. 

Unbound:    pages,    50;  blank    pages,   10;  water-mark.  DTKIIAM;  no  name 
given  to  document;  language,  French. 

3.  Extrait  des  Registre  de  la  Jurisdiction  des  Cahos,  December  12, 1778 — October 

28,   1788. 

Originally  bound  in  flexible  paper  cover,  it  was  placed  by  me  in  the 
parchment  covers  in  which  it  is  now  bound:  size,  15  by  OV-j  inches: 
pages,  58;  blank  pages.  4;  pages  numbered  Folio  5,  etc.:  language. 
French,  but  there  are  a  few  English  deeds  and  letters;  it  is  the  register 
of  the  clerk  of  the  court  acting  as  recorder. 


30 

4.  Registre  des  audiences  par(?)  Le  juge  de  Semaine  comence  Le  9  juillet  1785  et 

reforme  Le  14  fevrier  1786  a  In  Cour  tenue  le  d1  jour. 

Unbound;  size,  II}.. i  by  8%  inches;  pages,  20;  blank  pages,  4;  water-mark, 
star  and  D  C  within  oval;  language,  French. 

5.  a.  Record  of  court  at  Cahokia,  December  31,  1778 — May  7,  1779. 

Loose  sheets:  size,  12  li  by  8  inches:  pages,  8;  watermark,  lion  rampant 
holding  a  bunch  of  arrows  and  a  standard,  within  a  circle:  language, 
English;  no  name  to  document. 

b.  Minutes  of   General  Court  of   Illinois  Territory,    St.    Clalr  County,  April 

Term,  1811. 
Unbound;  pages,  28;  language,  English. 

c.  Minutes  of  the  same,  September  term.  1813. 
Unbound:  pages,  54;  language,  English. 

6.  Settlement  of  the  estate  of  M.  and  Mad.  Charleville,  1781. 

Unbound;  size,  12><2  by  8  inches;  pages,  58:  no  name  to  document:  lan- 
guage. French:  at  the  end,  there  is  a  letter  in  English  to  the  court, 
dated  July  9th,  1789. 

7.  Record  A.  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  St.  Clair  County,  October  6,  1795- 

April,  1796. 

Bound  in  flexible  paper  cover;  pages  90;  blank  pages  1;  records  of  43  ses- 
sions; water  mark,  a  crown  with  C  R  below:  language  English. 

There  are  complete  records  of  the  circuit  court  since  1808. 

OFFICE    OF    THE    COUNTY  CLERK. 

8.  Record  A.  of  the  County  Clerk. 

This  record  has  been  misplaced,  so  that  I  was  unable  to  see  it.  It  covers 
the  period  previous  to  1817.  and  is  a  record  of  administrative  proceed- 
ings. 

OFFICE    OF    COUNTY    TREASURER. 

9.  About  370  unclassified  legal  papers  belonging  to  the  court  of   Cahokia, 

1778-1790.  in  two  tin  filing  cases. 

They  are  generally  in  French  and  are  written  on  all  kinds  of  paper,  some 
of  them  mere  scraps.  They  are  requests  for  writs  of  various  charac- 
ters, statements  of  claims  by  petitioners,  sheriff's  warrants,  etc.  There 
are  among  them  some  papers  of  a  later  date. 

OFFICE    OF    PROBATE    CLERK. 

10.  Entries  of  Letters  of  Administration  and  Testamentary,   etc.,   issued  by 

the  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in   Vacation  as  by  the  Law  of 
the  Territory,  March  10,  1794-March  18,  1831. 

Ten  years  ago,  the  book  was  bound  in  vellum,  but  has  since  been  re- 
bound in  stiff  board  covers  and  marked  Wills.  Page  153. 

OFFICE    OF    THE    RECORDER. 

11.  Record  A.  St.  Clair  Co.,  April  26,  1790-September  7,  1796. 

On  fly  leaf  is  written,  ''By  his  excellency  Arthur  St.  Clair  Esquire  Gov- 
ernor and  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Territory  of  the  U.  S.  North 
West  of  the  River  Ohio."  Bound  in  stiff  board  covers;  size  quarto; 
pages  302;  blank  pages,  several;  contents,  private  deeds  of  all  kinds; 
language  French  and  English.  There  is  also  a  copy  of  this  record  in  a 
very  clear  hand-writing. 

12.  Record  B.  March  14,  1800— March  23.  1813. 

Bound  in  heavy  board  covers;  size  folio;  pages  663;  blank  pages,  several; 
contents,  deeds  of  all  kinds;  language  English. 

13.  A  record  of  Land  Claims  under  Virginia  and  U.  S.  grants,  Novembers,  1798. 
Bound  in  flexible  covers;  pages  92:  blank  pages  46;  the  book  was    written 

by  John  Hay  and  the  language  is  English. 


31 

R  ECOMMENDATION . 

There  are  so  many  more  important  documents  of  the  French  period 
to  be  edited,  that  it  does  not  seem  wise  to  expend  money  on  the  im- 
mediate publication  of  the  Registre  des  Insinuation  des  Donations. 
No  doubt  a  more  intensive  study  of  the  contents  would  yield  some- 
thing fruitful  for  our  knowledge  of  the  law,  social  conditions,  and 
genealogy  of  the  French  in  the  Mississippi  settlements.  Yet  the  re- 
sults would  be  more  of  local  than  general  interests.  For  much  of  the 
analysis  of  the  institutional  conditions  existing  in  the  French  -colonies 
which  is  contained  in  this  report,  I  would  have  chosen  Some  other 
source  than  the  Registre,  had  such  been  available ;  for  it  contains  hints 
rather  than  explanations  of  the  machinery  of  government.  Possibly 
later  a  short  study  of  the  internal  evidence  with  a  few  typical  docu- 
ments might  be  made  with  profit. 

When  we  come  to  the  documents  of  the  Virginia  period  the  rec- 
ommendation must  be  the  opposite.  All  of  these  documents  are  im- 
portant and  give  new  and  valuable  information  on  the  history  of  the 
•conquest  of  Illinois  and  the  government  of  the  succeeding  period.  Up 
to  the  present  time  little  has  been  known  about  the  courts  established 
by  Clark  or  in  regard  to  the  government  founded  by  Todd.  As  soon 
as  possible  this  material  should  be  published.  I  recommend  that  a 
volume  containing  the  record  of  Clark's  court,  selections  from  the 
clerk's  register,  and  a  full  record  of  the  court  established  under  the 
Virginia  act  be  issued.  It  will  be  unnecessary  to  publish  all  the 
clerk's  register  as  many  of  the  documents  are  inventories,  promissory 
notes,  and  letters  of  local  interest,  typical  examples  of  which  would 
be  sufficient  for  such  a  volume. 

There  is  no  document  of  the  later  period  that  is  worth  publication 
at  this  time,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Record  A.  of  the  Record- 
er's office.  An  interesting  selection  from  these  deeds  might  be  made. 
Although  my  report  is  confined  to  the  documents  of  the  Belleville  court 
house,  still  I  feel  4hat  the  time  and  opportunity  are  propitious  for  a 
suggestion  on  the  future  policy  to  be  pursued  in  the  publication  of 
the  historical  sources  of  the  state.  Up  to  the  present,  most  of  the 
American  state  governments  and  historical  societies  have  contented 
themselves  with  a  haphazard  publication  of  documents.  The  longer 
this  policy  is  continued,  the  more  difficult  will  become  an  exhaustive 
and  systematic  publication  of  the  historical  sources  of  the  states  and 
more  complicated  the  work  of  the  student.  It  is  time  the  American 
states  should  follow  a  plan  for  the  complete  publication  of  historical 
material,  as  the  European  states  have  been  doing  for  the  past  century. 
The  best  methods  for  such  a  work  have  already  been  evolved  by  the 
Germans  in  the  Monumenia  Gernianiae  Hisiorica  and  the  historians 
of  other  European  states  have  followed  their  lead,  so  that  today  these 
stiidents  axe  carrying  to  completion  the  work  of  publication  along 
definite  lines,  which  were  carefully  mapped  out  years  ago. 

Some  such  plan  for  the  exhaustive  publication  of  the  material  for 
the  history  of  Illinois  can  now  be  made,  so  that  the  work  of  future 
editors  of  documents  and  narratives  may  be  directed  by  a  general 


32 

scheme.  The  general  outlines  of  such  a  plan  will  not  be  difficult  to 
formulate  and  should  be  determined  by  a  commission  of  historians  of 
the  state.  They  might  decide  on  a  purely  chronological  plan  or  bet- 
ter still  on  an  arrangement  of  documents  and  narratives  with  refer- 
ence to  their  character  and  chronology.  However,  before  much  can 
be  done,  there  must  be  made  a  careful  examination  of  the  archives  of 
the  State  and  a  bibliography  of  the  historical  material  already  pub- 
lished. 

For  the  survey  of  archives,  arrangements  have  already  been  made, 
I  believe,  by  the  Trustees  of  the  State  Historical  Library  and  by  the 
Historical  Manuscript  Commission  of  the  American  Historical  Asso- 
ciation. 


APPENDIX  I. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

"Affairs  at  Fort  Chartres,  1768-1771",  in  Historical  Magazine,  VIII,  8. 

American  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  I  and  II,  Washington,  1832. 

Billon,  F.  L.,  Annals  of  St.  Louis.  St.  Louis,  1886. 

Boyd,  C.  E.,  "The  County  of  Illinois",  in  American  Historical  Review,  IV,  No.  4. 
.,  Breese,  S.,  The  Early  History  of  Illinois.  Chicago,  1884. 

Brooke,  R.,  A  Treatise  on  the  Practice  of  a  Notary  of  England.  London,  1876. 
-Brown,  H.,  History  of  Illinois.  New  York,  1844. 

Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers  and  Other  Manuscripts,  1652-1781.    I    and    V, 
1875  ff. 

Channing,  E. ,  Town  and  County  Government  in  the   English   Colonies   of   North 
America,  J.  H.  U.  Studies,  II,  No.  X. 

Church  Records  of  Ste.  Anne.  Manuscript  copy  in  Chicago  Historical  Library.  • 

"Clark  and  the  Kaskaskia  Campaign,  Documents,"  in  American  Historical  Re- 
view. VIII,  491-506. 

Clark's  Sketch  of  his  Campaign   in  the  Illinois,  in  Ohio  Valley  Historical  Series. 
No.  3.  Cincinnati,  1869. 

Coffin,  V. ,  Ttie  Province  of  Quebec  and  the  Early  American  Revolution,  Univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin  Bulletin,  I,  Madison,  1896. 

Collet,  O.  W.,  "Review    of    Hinsdale's    Old  Northwest,"'  in  Magazine  of  West- 
ern History,  VIII,  1888. 
""Davidson,  A.,  and  Stuve,  B.,  A  Complete  History  of  Illinois.    Springfield,   1874. 

Dillon,  J.,  History  of  Indiana.  Indianapolis,  1859. 

Documents  in  the  Court  house  at  Belleville. 

Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  New   York.  vols.  VII, 
VIII.  X,  Albany,  1856  ff. 

Draper  Collection,  Clark  Manuscripts,  in  the  library  of  the  Wisconsin  Histor- 
ical Society. 

Edits,  ordonnances  royaux,  declarations  et  arrete  du  consell  d'etat  du  Roi,   con- 
cernant  Canada,  etc.,  3  vols.,  Quebec,  1854-1856. 

English,  W.  H.,  Conquest  of  the  Country  Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio  and  Life  of 
George  Rogers  Clark.  2  vols.,  Indianapolis,  1896. 

Eschmann,  C.  J.,  "Kaskaskia  Church  Records,"  in  Transactions  of  the  Illinois 
State  Historical  Society.  1904. 

French,  B.  F.,  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana.  5  vols.,  Philadelphia.  1850  ff. 

Gayarre,  C.  E.  A.,  History  of  Louisiana.  4  vois.,  3d  ed..  New  Orleans,  1885. 

Greene,  E.  B. ,  The  Gm^erninent  of  Illinois.  New  York,  1904. 

Hening,  W.  W.,  Statutesat  Large,  (of  Virginia.)  vols.  I-V,  IX,  X:  Richmond,  1821. 

History  of  St.  Clair  County,  III.  Philadelphia,  1881. 

Houston,  W.,  Documents  Illustrative  of  the  Canadian  Conxlil  a i  in n.  Toronto,  1891. 

Howard,  E.  E. ,  Local  Constitutional    History  of  United    States.  Baltimore,  1889. 

Illinois  Historical  Collections.     Vol.  I.,  Springfield,  1903. 

Ingle,  E.,  Local  Institution*  of  \'irijini(i.    Johns  Hopkins  rniv<'r*iti/  Stmlit's,  III. 
No*.  II  and  III. 

"Intercepted    Letters   and   Journal    of  George  Rogers  Clark.    1778,   1779,"  in 
American  Historical  Review,  1 .  90-96. 

Isambert,  Decrusy.  Taillandier,  Rci-neU  general   </<s   ani-iennes   loi*    fr<in<-<tises. 
Vols.  XIX.  XXI,  Paris,  1829. 

Journals  of  Congress.     Vols.  IV-XI.  Philadelphia,  1800  ff. 

King,  Grace,  Neir  Orleans;  The  P/mr  <in<l  the  People.     New  York,  1899. 

L<i  (-irandc.  Enajflnpcdic. 

Larousse,  Grande  IHrtinnairc   /  ~nnvr.se/. 

-3  H 


Margry.  P.,  Dcconvcitcs  ct etaltlisxement*  do- •  fnnn-dix    dtnix    L'Anicrl<i\ie   septcn- 

Irionale.  1K14-1754.     6  vols.,  Paris.  1887. 
Mason,  E.  G.,  Illinois  in  the    Eighteenth    Century;    Old    Fort    Chartrcs  and  John 

Todd's  Record- Booh.     Chicago.  1881. 
Mason,  E.  G..   John    Todd,    John  Tftdd's  Record-Book,   <tnd  Jolin-Todd  Puprrx. 

Fergus  Historical  Series,  No.  33.  Chicago.  1890. 
?~Mason.  E.  G.,  Llxte  of  Earl]/  Illinois*   Citizen*,   Fergus  Hixtoririil   Scricx.    \o.  31. 

Chicago,  1890. 
Mason,  E.  G.,  Philippe  de  Rocheblave  and  Rocheblave  Paper*,  Fcrgn*   JJixtoriml 

Series,  No.  34.  Chicago.  1890. 
Mixxonrl  Reports,  Vol.  IV.,  St.  Louis,  1870. 

x-f-Moses,  J..  Illinois  Historical  and  Statistical.     2  vols.,  Chicago,  1890. 
Ogg,  F.  A.,  The  Opening  of  the  Mississippi.     New  York,  1904. 
Perrin,  J.  N.,  "The  Oldest  Civil  Record  in  the  West,"  in   Triiiixurtionx  of  the 

Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  1901. 
^•-Pittman,  P.,  The  Present  State  of  the  European   Settlements   on   the   Mixsisxipni. 

London,  1770. 

.-Reynolds,  J.,  The  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois,     lielleville,  1852. 
Roosevelt.  T..  The  Winning  of  the  West.     4  vols.,  New  York,  1896. 
Roy,  J.  E.,  Histoire  du  Notariat  au  Canada,  4  vols.,  Levis,  1899. 
Smith.  W.  H.,  St.  Clair  Papers.  2  vols.,  Cincinnati,  1882. 
Tripier  and  Monnier,  Les  Codes  Francois,  Code  Civil.  Paris.  1900. 
Violett,  P.,  Histoire  du  Droit  Civil  Francais,  3d  ed.,  Paris,  1905. 
Wallace,  J.,  The  History  of  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  French  .Rale.    Cincin- 
nati. 1893.  L- 

' J. ,  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of   America.     Vols.  IV- VI.    Boston, 
1886. 


APPENDIX  II. 


ORDINANCE  OF  FEBRUARY,  1731,  CONCERNING  DONATIONS. 

Isambert.  Decrusy,  Taillandier,  Recueil  general  des  anciennes  lois  fran- 
caise,  XXI.,  343-356. 

ART.  1.  All  acts  of  donations  'inter  vivo*  shall  be  passed  before  notaries,  and 
there  shall  be  made  minutes  of  them,  on  penalty  of  nullity. 

2.  Donations  inter  vivos  shall  be  made  in  the   ordinary   form   of  contracts 
and  of  acts  passed  before  notaries,  and  all  other  formalities,  which  have  been 
required  up  to  the  present,  in  the  different  laws,   customs  and   usages  of  the 
land  under  our  dominion,  shall  be  observed. 

3.  All  donations  mortis  causa,  with  the  exception  of  those   which   are   made 
by  contract  of  marriage,  shall  not  be  effective,  hereafter,  unless  they  shall  be 
made  in  the  same  form  as  wills  and  testaments,  all  other  laws  and  customs  to 
the  contrary   notwithstanding;    so    that   in    future   there   shall  be  only  two 
forms  of  disposing  of  property  gratuitously,   one  of  which  shall  be   that  of 
donations  inter  vivos.  and  the  other,  that  of  wills  and  testaments. 

*  .          *•  *  *  .  *  *  * 

5.  Donations  inter  vivos,  likewise  those  which  are  made  to  the  Church  or 
for  pious  purposes,  can  be  binding  on  the  donor  and  be  effective,  only  from 
the  day  they  shall  be  accepted  by  the  donee  or  his  attorney,  general  or 
special.  In  the  latter  case  the  power  of  attorney  shall  be  attached*  to  the 
minute  of  the  donation.  And  in  case  the  donation  should  have  been  accepted 
by  a  person  who  shall  have  declared  himself  the  agent  of  the  donee,  the  said 
donation  shall  take  effect  only  from  the  day  of  the  express  ratification,  which 
ratification  the  said  donee  shall  have  made  by  act  passed  before  a  notary,  the 
minute  of  which  act  shall  be  preserved.  We  forbid  all  notaries  and  taMwfewe 
to  accept  donations  in  favor  of  absent  donees  on  penalty  of  nullity  of  said  act. 
•  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

15.  No  donation   inter  vivos  can    include  other   property  than   that  which 
shall  belong  to  the  donor  at  the  time  of  the  donation. 


85 

17.  Nevertheless,  we  wish  that  donations,  made  by  the  marriage  contract, 
in  favor  of  the  husband  and  wife  or  of  their  descendants,  even  when  made  by 
collateral  relatives  or  by  strangers,  be  excepted  from  the  provision  of  article 
15,  and  that  the  said  donations,  made  by  contract  of  marriage  may  include 
both  present  property  and  that  to  be  acquired  in  the  future,  all  or  in  part;  in 
which  case,  it  shall  be  at  the  choice  of  the  donee,  either  to  take  the  property, 
such  as  it  is  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  donor,  and  to  pay  all  debts  and 
charges,  even  those  which  shall  have  been  made  subsequent  to  the  donation, 
or  to  receive  only  the  property  which  existed  at  the  time  when  the  donation 
was  made,  and  to  pay  only  the  debts  and  charges  existent  at  that  time. 

»'>-•;«  *  *  *  *  * 

19.  Donations  made  in  contracts  of  marriage  in  direct  line  shall  not  be 
subject  to  the  formality  of  registration. 

23.  In  all  cases,  where  registration  is  required  on  penalty  of  nullity,   dona- 
tions of  real  property  or  of  that  which,  without  being  real,  is  taxed  according 
to  the  law,  customs  or  usages  of  the  land,  and  do  not  follow  the  person  of  the 
donor,  shall  be  registered,  on  penalty  of  nullity,   at  the  bureau  of  the   baili- 
wick, or  of  the  royal  seneschal's  court,  or  of  other  royal   court  with  direct 
appeal  to  our  court,  of  the  district  in  which   is  situated  the    domicile  of  the 
donor,  and  also  of  the  district  in  which  the  property  is  taxed;  and   in  regard 
to  personal  property,  likewise  immovables  which  are  not  taxed  and  follow  the 
person  of  the  donor,  the  registration  shall  be  made  only  at  the  bureau  of  the 
bailiwick,  or  of  the   royal  seneschal's  court,  or   of    other    royal    court    with 
direct  appeal  to  our  court,  of  the  district  in  which  is  situated  the  domicile  of 
the  donor.     We  forbid  all  registration  in  other  jurisdictions  or  in  courts  of 
seigniors,  even  in  those  of  peers;  and  in  case  the  donor's  domicile  is  situated 
in  such  a  jurisdiction,  the   registration  shall  be  made  at  the   bureau  of   the 
court   which  has    the    cognizance  of    royal    cases    in   the  district   where  the 
domicile  is  and  where  the  property  is  situated,  all  on  penalty  of  nullity. 

24.  In  the  future,  there  shall  be   in   each  bailiwick  or    royal    seneschal's 
court  a  particular  register,  which  shall  be   numbered  and  paraphed  on  each 
leaf  by  the  first  officer  of  the  court,  and  closed  at  the  end  of  each  year  by  the 
said  officer;  in  which  register  there  shall  be  written  the  entire  act  of  dona- 
tion, if  it  is  made  by  a  separate  act,  if  not,  the  part  of  the   act   w  hich   shall 
contain  the  donation,   its  charges  and  conditions  without  omitting  any  of  it. 
so  that  the  engrossment  or  the  effective  copy  of  said  act  will  be  represented 
without  need  of  consulting  the  minute. 

25.  The  guardian  of  the  said  register  shall  be  required  to  give  access  to  it 
at  any  time  without  a  command  from  the  court,  and   to  deliver  to  parties, 
upon   demand,    an  extract  signed  by  himself,   for  which  he  shall  receive  a 
reasonable  remuneration  in  accordance  with  our  regulations  of  the  17th  of  the 
present  month. 

26.  When  the  registration  shall  have    been  made   within  the   period    pre- 
scribed by  the  ordinances,  even  after  the  decease  of  the  donor  or  donee,  the 
donation  shall  be  effective  from  the  day  of  its  date   for  all  persons.     It    may 
be,    nevertheless,    registered  after  the  decease  of    the    donee,   provided  4he 
donor  is  still  alive;  but  it  shall  be  effective  in  that  case  only  from  the  day  of 
registration. 


APPENDIX    III. 


ROYAL  FRENCH  NOTARIES  IN  THE  WKSTEKN  SETTLEMENTS. 

Afkhough  the  following  list  of  French  notaries  in  the  western  lands  -of 
America  is  far  from  complete,  owing  to  the  lack  of  available  sources,  it  has 
seemed  best  to  publish  it,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  call  the  attention  of 
local  historians  to  the  material  to  be  found  in  the  acts  of  this  class  of  officials. 
A  complete  list  cannot  be  made  until  the  notarial  acts  in  New  Orleans  have 


36 

been  examined.     Mr.   Beer  of  the  Howard   Memorial  Library  writes  me  that 
"about  sixty  boxes  of    unexamined  notarial   deeds  of   dates  mostly    prior  to 
1800"   are  in  the    archives  of    the  Louisiana  Historical  Society.     And  "in  the 
city  archives  in  the  City  Hall,  there  are  at  least  two  volumes  of  early  date." 
Jean  Baptiste  Bertlor  Barrois,! 

at  Kaskaskia,  January  15,  1737,  to  December,  1754. 

at  Nouvelle  Chartres,  December,  1754,  to  March  10,  1757. 
Joseph  Labuxiere,2 

at  Nouvelle  Chartres,  March  14,  1757.  to  October  12.  1764. 

at  St.  Louis,  1765,  to  May  20,  1770. 
Leonard  Billeron.3 

(tux  Illinois,  February  14,  1733,  and  October  25,  1736. 
Jerome  Rousillet,4 

at  Fort  Chartres,  February  14.  1733,  and  November  8,  1739. 
Place,5 

nux  Illinois,  November  17,  1731. 
Phillibert  and  Baumer,6 

at  Vincennes,  the  latter  until  1761. 
Bouvier,7 

at  Vincennes,  August  2,  1763. 
Francois  Louis  Cardin,8 

at  Michillimackinac,  April  6,  1754. 
Robert  Navarre,9 

at  Detroit,  May  15,  1741,  to  1759. 
Jean  Baptiste  Campeau,10 

at  Detroit,  May  15.  1758,  until  the  end  of  the  French  regime. 
Duplessis,H 

at  New  Orleans,  May  31,  1740. 
Henry,12 

'    at  New  Orleans,  May  21,  1740. 
Chantalou,i3 

at  New  Orleans.  August  1,  1749. 


1.  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations  aux  Siege  des  Illinois. 

2.  Ibid.:  Billon.  Annals  of  St.  Louis,  passim. 

3.  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations;  Roy,  Histoire  du  Notarial,  I.,  371.    M.   Roy  states 
that  he  was  appointed  by  the   Lieutenant  General  of  Montreal  and  was  still  in  Kaskaskia  in 
1759;  but  1  have  found  no  record  of  his  presence  there  after  1736,  the  year  before  Barrois  began 
to  act  as  notary. 

4.  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations,   October  25,  1741.    I   know  nothing  more  about 
him  than  is  contained  in  these  acts.    Rightly  or  wrongly  I  have  identified  a  M.  Jerome  with  a 
Jerome  Rousillet,  both  notaries  of  Fort  Chartres.    If  the  identification  is  correct,  he  died  be- 
tween Novembers,  1739,  and  October 25,  1741,  on  which  date  the  clerk  wrote  of  the  late  M. 
Jerome. 

5.  Registte  des  Insinuations  des  Donations. 

6.  Baumer  succeeded  Phillibert.    Dunn,  French  Settlements  on  the  Wabash,?&;  Dunn,  Indi- 
ana, 80,99,101. 

7.  He  was  acting  as  notary.    Registie  des  Insinuations  des  Donations. 
.8.  Roy,  Histoire  du  Notarial,  I,  371. 

9.  Ibid.,  I,  370. 

10.  Ibid.,  I,  371. 

11.  Ibid.,  I,  377. 

12.  Ibid.,  I,  377. 

13.  Registre  des  Insinuations  des  Donations,  October  20,  1760. 


37 
APPENDIX  IV. 


ACT  CHEATING  THE  COUNTY  or  ILLINOIS. 
Herring-,  Statutes  <tt  Lanjc  of.  (Virginia,)  IX.,  552-555. 

AN  ACT  for  establishing  the  county  of  Ilinoi*,  and  for  the  more  effectual  protec- 
tion and  defence  thereof. 

WIIKUEAS  by  a  successful  expedition  carried  on  by  the  Virginia  militia,  on 
the  western  side  of  the  Ohio  river,  several  of  the  British  posts  within  the  ter- 
ritory of  this  commonwealth,  in  the  country  adjacent  to  the  river  Mississippi, 
have  been  reduced,  and  the  inhabitants  have  acknowledged  themselves  citi- 
zens thereof,  and  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  same,  and  the  good  faith 
and  safety  of  the  commonwealth  require  that  the  said  citizens  should  be  sup- 
ported and  protected  by  speedy  and  effectual  reinforcements,  which  will  be 
the  best  means  of  preventing  the  inroads  and  depredations  of  the  Indians 
upon  the  inhabitants  to  the  westward  of  the  Allegheny  mountains:  and 
whereas,  from  their  remote  situation,  it  may  at  this  time  be  difficult,  if  not 
impracticable,  to  govern  them  by  the  present  laws  of  this  commonwealth, 
until  proper  information,  by  intercourse  with  their  fellow  citizens,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Ohio,  shall  have  familiarized  them  to  the  same,  and  it  is 
therefore  expedient  that  some  temporary  form  of  government,  adapted  to 
their  circumstances  should  in  the  meantime  be  established: 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  That  all  the  citizens  of  this  common- 
wealth who  are  already  settled,  or  shall  hereafter  settle,  on  the  western  side 
of  the  Ohio  aforesaid,  shall  be  included  in  a  distinct  county,  which  shall  be 
called  Ilinois  county;  and  that  the  governour  of  this  commonwealth,  with 
the  advice  of  the  council,  may  appoint  a  county  lieutenant  or  commandant  in 
chief  in  that  county,  during  pleasure,  who  shall  appoint  and  commission  so 
'  many  deputy  commandants,  militia  officers,  and  commissaries,  as  he  shall 
think  proper  in  the  different  districts,  during  pleasure,  all  of  whom,  before 
they  enter  into  office,  shall  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  this  commonwealth 
and  the  oath  of  office,  according  to  their  own  religion,  which  the  inhabitants 
shall  fully,  and  to  all  intents  and  purposes  enjoy,  together  with  all  their  civil 
rights  and  property.  And  all  civil  officers  to  which  the  said  inhabitants  have 
been  accustomed,  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  shall  be  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  citizens  in  their  re- 
spective districts,  to  be  convened  for  that  purpose  by  the  county  lieutenant 
or  commandant,  or  his  deputy,  and  shall  be  commissioned  by  the  said  county 
lieutenant  or  commandant  in  chief,  and  be  paid  for  their  services  in  the  same 
manner  as  such  expenses  have  been  heretofore  borne,  levied,  and  paid  in  that 
county;  which  said  civil  officers,  after  taking  the  oaths  as  before  prescribed, 
shall  exercise  their  several  jurisdictions,  and  conduct  themselves  agreeable  to 
the  laws  which  the  present  settlers  are  now  accustomed  to.  And  on  any 
criminal  prosecution,  where  the  offender  shall  be  adjudged  guilty,  it  shall 
and  may  be  lawful  for  the  county  lieutenant  or  commandant  in  chief  to  par- 
don his  or  her  offense,  except  in  cases  of  murder  and  treason;  and  in  such 
cases,  he  may  respite  execution  from  time  to  time,  until  the  sense  of  the  gov- 
ernour in  the  first  instance,  and  of  the  general  assembly  in  the  case  of 
treason,  is  obtained.  Hut  where  any  officers,  directed  to  be  appointed  by  this 
act,  are  such  as  the  inhabitants  have  been  unused  to.  it  shall  and  may  be 
lawful  for  the  governour.  with  the  advice  of  the  council,  to  draw  a  warrant 
or  warrants  on  the  treasury  of  this  commonwealth  for  the  payment  of  the 
salaries  of  such  officers,  so  as  the  sum  or  sums  drawn  for  do  not  exceed  the 
sum  of  five  hundred  pounds,  anything  herein  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

And  for  the  protection  and  defence  of  the  said  county  and  its  inhabitants. 
Be  it  cniictt'it.  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  governour,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  the  council,  forthwith  to  order,  raise,  and  levy,  either  by  voluntary 
enlistments,  or  detachments  from  the  militia,  five  hundred  men,  with  proper 


38 

officers,  to  inarch  immediately  into  the  said  county  of  Ilinois,  to  garrison 
such  forts  or  stations  already  taken,  or  which  it  may  be  proper  to  take  there 
or  elsewhere,  for  protecting  the  said  county,  and  for  keeping  up  our  commun- 
ication with  them,  and  also  with  the  Spanish  settlements,  as  he,  with  the  ad- 
vice aforesaid,  shall  direct.  And  the  said  governour,  with  the  advice  of  the 
council,  shall  from  time  to  time,  iintil  farther  provision  shall  be  made  for  the 
same  by  the  general  assembly,  continue  to  relieve  the  said  volunteei-s,  or 
militia,  by  other  enlistments  or  detachments,  as  herein  before  directed,  and 
to  issvie  warrants  on  the  treasurer  of  this  commonwealth  for  all  charges  and 
expenses  accruing  thereon,  which  the  said  treasurer  is  hereby  required  to  pay 
accordingly. 

And  be  It  farther  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  governour, 
with  the  advice  of  the  council,  to  take  such  measures  as  they  shall  judge 
most  expedient  or  the  necessity  of  the  case  requires,  for  supplying  the  said 
inhabitants  as  well  as  our  friendly  Indians  in  those  parts,  with  goods  and 
other  necessaries,  either  by  opening  a  communication  and  trade  with  New 
Orleans,  or  otherwise,  and  to  appoint  proper  persons  for  managing  and  con- 
ducting the  same  on  behalf  of  this  commonwealth. 

Provided.  That  any  of  the  said  inhabitants  may  likewise  carry  on  such  trade, 
on  their  own  accounts,  notwithstanding. 

This  act  shall  continue  and  be  in  force,  from  and  after  the  passing  of  the 
same,  for  and  during  the  term  of  twelve  months,  and  from  thence  to  the  end 
of  the  next  session  of  assembly,  and  no  longer. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

V   ffi&EE.GHTEENC«1  CENTURY  SPR.N 


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